Suicide Squeeze drops Coathangers/Nu Sensae split, preps new White Woods release
Punk mainstay the Coathangers splits solid 7-inch with Nu Sensae, while guitarist Julia Kugel's second White Woods release is due out April 2
- Courtesy The Coathangers
- The Coathangers' newest track pays tribute to the late Derek Shepherd (shown above).
While the Coathangers have been tearing up the roads, their label, Seattle's Suicide Squeeze Records, dropped a split single featuring the Atlanta foursome and Vancouver grunge rockers Nu Sensae and announced the April release of a 7-inch by guitarist Julia Kugel's solo project, White Woods.
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The Coathangers' offering on the new split, "Derek's Song," is a tribute to Seattle power-pop musician Derek Shepherd, who passed away last August. The band is sadly seasoned now when it comes to eulogizing friends in song, as "Jaybird" from the 2011 album Larceny and Old Lace was about the late Jay Reatard. Lyrically, Stephanie Luke candidly pours her heart out about the life and death of a true rock and roller, admitting at the end that Shepherd and his friends should have "listened to scars." Musically, and seemingly ironically, this is one of the Coathangers' more upbeat tunes, making it one of the strangest juxtapositions of sad lyrics and glad music since the early years of Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Perhaps the intention of this dance-worthy tune is to pay further tribute to Shepherd, whose lasting testament includes a stint with Peter Case produced power-pop outfit Plastic Letters. Assumed intentions aside, "Derek's Song" is one of the sharpest, catchiest, and most honest tunes in the Coathangers' growing musical canon.