The highly anticipated debut single from Car Colors (the new project from Charles Bissell, formerly of The Wrens), “Old Death,” is out today both on 12-inch vinyl and digitally via Absolutely Kosher. The single–which is also Bissell’s first new music in 20 years–features B-sides “And It’s All Guns and Arrows (alt. take)” and “I’ll Bear,” the former an alternate take of a track on the forthcoming album debut from the project, due out in early 2024.
Of “Old Death,” Bissell–who has also shared a corresponding video, directed by Kyle Garrett–explains, “‘Old Death’ is, like the rest of the album, sort of a sequel to The Meadowlands before it and like that one, is about time, how one chooses to spend it, what those choices cost. That means for me, the song (and album) is also about making the album itself. It’s about death, maybe obviously, but it’s really about my dumb life. And because so much of that life lined up weirdly well to the Odyssey, it’s all sorta hung on Homer’s narrative framework (while I unlike say, Ulysses, in my case it’s all very non-fictional/auto-biographical). However like Ulysses, every song is written in a stream-of-consciousness mode. Or for me, really more of a stream-of-memories: that time this happened, that other-time-this-reminds-me-of happened etc. Hence, the parenthetical dating throughout the lyrics as those memories pop in & out. So basically like, unlike, like and then unlike Ulysses – ha.”
Each of the three songs bear the songwriting hallmarks, densely crafted sounds, and meticulous production for which Bissell is known. From the chiming dissonance and slow-building urgency of the over seven-minute-long “Old Death,” to the soaring, cacophonous melancholy of “And It’s All Guns And Arrows (alt. take),” to the indelible tunefulness and exhilarating guitar interplay of “I’ll Bear,” this debut artistic statement was decidedly worth the wait–and demands repeat listens.
Stay tuned for additional news about Car Colors’ debut album.
