PACKS shares "Two Hands" from upcoming Take The Cake LP out May 21st on Fire Talk/Royal Mountain Records
PACKS debut LP Take The Cake, is due out on Fire Talk Records (Dehd, Patio, Mamalarky) and Royal Mountain Records (Wild Pink, Alvvays, Mac DeMarco) on May 21st, and significant excitement has been building around the Toronto band since they announced the album in early March. The album has seen two singles so far in "Silvertongue" and "New TV," which have been the subject of some high praise, with "best of the week" nods from outlets like NPR,, Gorilla vs Bear and others. Today, the band is sharing a third single from the LP, the sneakily infectious "Two Hands"
Memorably invoking a "Simpson's sunset" in its opening lyric, the track delivers a hazy jangle that forms the perfect frame for PACKS leader Madeline Link's laid back melodic acrobatics, and the accompanying video, which Link directed herself, reflects the song's springtime feeling.
"This song is quite literal! On the walk home with muddy shoes and a light, almost delirious feeling in my chest that only stomping around in the mud can bring, I started humming the tune and the lyrics followed. A walk can transform your outlook on life, whether you are enraptured by a sunset full
of colours only imagined in cartoons, you receive a sweet acknowledgement of existence from a stranger, or you get into a yelling match with a raving skeletor."
PACKS was initially a solo songwriting project of Madeline Link that she pursued between gigs as a set dresser for commercials, the band is now a four piece, composed of Shane Hooper (drums), Noah O’Neil (bass), and Dexter Nash (lead guitar). Together they turn Link’s melodically adventurous and introspective songs into the purest and brightest kind of indie rock. Anchored by Link’s voice, which brings such an easy charm to her songs that it’s easy to miss her keen ear for acrobatic vocal lines, the band’s debut is a collection of songs that marry the loose but incisive jangle of early Pavement with the barbed sweetness of Sebadoh and the wide-eyed wonder of the first Shins LP. Written in two different settings, between the city limits of Toronto where Link was living in 2019, and the Ottawa suburbs where she was quarantined with her parents in the spring 2020, both remain complementary emblems of self-reflection and wry observation of the mundanity of daily life. Throughout the chaos of everyday life, it’s impossible not to feel charmed by Link’s innate understanding of the little things that make the universe tick, and her sonic accompaniments make the simple task of getting from point A to B a journey that lends a little more spring to your step. Most daydreams feel less realistic; in PACKS’ world the two are just what you make it. As society begins to open back up, Take the Cake is a reminder that sometimes a little gentle introspection is all we really need to get by.
Take The Cake will be released on May 21st via Fire Talk & Royal Mountain Records.
It is available for preorder here.