Gaslight Anthem Kick Out the Optimistic Jams in New Song ‘Positive Charge’
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Heart-on-their-sleeve rockers the Gaslight Anthem reunited last year and launched their first tour in four years. Now they’re dropping new music: “Positive Charge” is the New Jersey group’s first new song in nine years. And as its title suggests, it’s electrifying.
Opening with a stomping drumbeat and a skronky guitar lick, the track’s dissonant attack is at odds with the optimistic message of the lyrics. “I wanna live, I wanna love you a little longer,” singer Brian Fallon declares. “How I’ve missed you/and feeling good to be alive.” If that sounds like an allusion to another famous lyric born in Jersey — “It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive” — it’s likely not a coincidence. Gaslight Anthem are often compared to Bruce Springsteen and have even shared the stage with him before.
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“‘Positive Charge’ began as a message of joy to ourselves and to our audience,” Fallon says in a statement. “The central theme is about looking at the things you’ve come through and feeling like you want to go ahead with an open heart toward the future, believing that the best years are not behind any of us and the good we have is worth something.”
The song is the first taste of a new album the Gaslight Anthem — singer-guitarist Fallon, guitarist Alex Rosamilia, bassist Alex Levine, and drummer Benny Horowitz — promised upon reuniting. “Positive Charge” was produced by Peter Katis and arrived on the band’s Rich Mahogany Recordings label via Thirty Tigers. The band will kick off a U.S. tour on May 1 in Houston, playing gigs in cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Baltimore, and Raleigh. They’ll also hit festivals this summer, including Bourbon & Beyond in Louisville and the Four Chord Music Fest in Washington, Pennsylvania.
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