So what can a poor girl say, SINGLE: PARTY NAILS – Yours To Take [Elana Belle Carroll, producer]
Party Nails – You Don’t Have To Go Home But You Can’t Stay Here is available at Bandcamp.
by Walter Price
In what will easily be in the running for LP of the year, Party Nails’ recent release, ‘You Don’t Have To Go Home But You Can’t Stay Here’, is here to take you on a journey. And yes, this trip is going to be heavy on the autobiographical, it’s also going to further cement songwriter Elana Belle Carroll’s lyrical craftswomanship. Individualized wordsmithery that’s not only all things sympathetic, encouraging, cynical, and sincere… its the fact that this set’s verses are undeniably relatable and tactile as well.
Carroll shares the release’s backstory, “My first album [Past Lives and Paychecks] was about love and money. This one is about booze, family, and nighttime. The title comes from what they say after last-call at a bar or a party, at the end of the night. Some of the songs were stragglers from my first record, and some were written while on tour or in between tours. I was drinking a lot and eventually quit, so a lot of the lyrics are about a state of inebriation and time of night, the positive, negative, and in-between. Other songs touch more on feeling connected or disconnected from people you love. There is a lot of masking of the truth going on in the world today, and this permeated my music during the making of the album.”
Sonically, this album is as diverse as it is cohesive. As in, most of the indelible sentiments come wrapped in heavy-groove-indie-pop and at times retro-futuristic new wave, or simply, nu-disco… as it’s been referred to, but just before this album breaks into the funky, its the stripped-down opening track, “Yours To Take”, that truly initiates the listener to the emotional tour they’re about to embark on.
And silently you’re on the couch
With your phone just drowning out
Or drowning in the world
We call “today”
So what can a poor girl say?
I can’t hide with you
I can’t run away
I wish that you could see there is a way
If you’re a fan of vulnerable truths, changing life’s course and/or what skating rinks should soundlike…then this album is for you. And for a deluxe edition that adds four bonus barebone tracks, head over to Bandcamp and add “Yours To Take” to your contemplative playlist(s).
PARTY NAILS
Artist photo by kelsea mcculloch
All songs, written by Elana Carroll, except track 4 (written by Elana Carroll and David Alexander) and track 8 (written by Elana Carroll, Mereki Beach, Caleb Shreve, and Jon Siebels).
Tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 9 produced by Elana Carroll and Benjamin Greenspan
Track 8 produced by Benjamin Greenspan
Tracks 1, 7, 10 and 12 produced by Elana Belle Carroll
All songs mixed by Ryan Nasci, except track 4 (mixed by David Alexander).
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These dreams never feel right
It seems I’m looking for a fight
I’m scared to take apart the stories they tell
I think I know the plot line all too well