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Music

Listen to a New Song from New Jersey's Prawn

Don't call it an emo revival.

When a certain style of music starts to blow up in popularity, as the Topshelf-Count Your Lucky Stars-Tiny Engines-dozens of just as worthy labels-scene has, it’s easy to overlook certain acts as being another “____” band. After all, no one has time to listen to everything involved that’s had the “emo revival” label stamped on it by a bunch of writers, right? Well, if you’re going to make an effort to listen to the most essential of these bands, Prawn would be a good place to start.

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Prawn has never been exactly concerned with any sort of trend, because they started in New Jersey in 2007, when bands like Algernon Cadwallader and Street Smart Cyclist were first starting to gain a following in Philly basements. But while the scene around them has grown exponentially over the past couple of years, the band has kept churning out solid releases, from their splits (with Joie De Vivre, and a four way with Frameworks, Kittyhawk, and Droughts) to their excellent first full length You Can Just Leave It All and the several EPs throughout the band’s career.

Now, the band is back with a new LP, Kingfisher (no relation to the excellent Small Brown Bike song of the same name), and judging from the first track, this may be the band’s best recorded output yet. Driven by jangly guitars, clever harmonies, and a blaring horn section, “Thalassa” shows Prawn branching into both theatrical music territory and the pop spectrum, while still remaining a shining example for what their community has to offer when Clark delivers the song’s dominant line, “I’m glad you found clarity in ambiguity”.

Stream “Thalessa” below and catch them on their US tour in July and August, which includes dates with Into It. Over It., Foxing, The Hotelier, and Free Throw. Pre-order Kingfisher, out August 12, right here.

7/10/2014 - Bethlehem, PA @ Blast Furnace w/ Into It. Over It.

7/11/2014 - Brooklyn, NY @ TBA

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7/12/2014 - Pawtucket, RI @ The Met w/ Into It. over It.

7/13/2014 - Rochester, NY @ The Bug Jar w/ Into It. Over It.

7/14/2014 - Ann Arbor, MI @ The Blind Pig w/ Into it. Over It.

7/15/2014 - Chicago, IL @ Township

7/16/2014 - Moline, IL @ Blackhawk Room

7/17/2014 - Omaha , NE @ The Slowdown

7/18/2014 - Kansas City, MO @ Art Closet Studio

7/19/2014 - Denton, TX @ Macaroni Island w/ Two Knights

7/20/2014 - Austin, TX @ Holy Mountain w/ Two Knights, Pompeii

7/21/2014 - Houston, TX @ TBA

7/23/2014 - Memphis, TN @ TBA w/ Free Throw

7/24-2014 - Nashville, TN @ House Show w/ Free Throw

7/25/2014 - Louisville/Lexington, KY @ TBA w/ Free Throw

7/26 -2014 - Columbus, OH @ House Show

7/27/2014 - Kalamazoo, MI @ Louie's Trophy House Grill w/ The Reptilian, Foxing

7/28/2014 - Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee's w/ Foxing

7/29/2014 - Ottawa, ON @ Club SAW w/ Foxing and The Hotelier

7/30/2014 - Montreal, QC @ Il Motore w/ Foxing and The Hotelier

7/31/2014 - New Britian, CT @ Pulaski Club w/ Foxing and The Hotelier

8/1/2014 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs w/Foxing and The Hotelier

8/2/2014 - New York, NY @ The Studio at Webster Hall w/ Foxing and The Hotelier

8/3/2014 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Fire w/ Foxing and The Hotelier

8/4/2014 - Washington, DC @ DC9 w/ Foxing and The Hotelier

8/5/2014 - Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter w/ Foxing and The Hotelier