Scranton indie rockers Tigers Jaw announce new album with classy ‘Cat’s Cradle’ music video
From a press release:
After signing with Hopeless Records in June, Scranton indie rockers Tigers Jaw have announced that their sixth album, “I Won’t Care How You Remember Me,” will be released on March 5, 2021, produced by the band and longtime collaborator Will Yip.
The first single, “Cat’s Cradle,” debuted on Oct. 22 alongside a music video directed by Drew Horen and Lauren H. Adams. The new video features the band – Ben Walsh (vocals/guitar), Brianna Collins (vocals/keyboards), Teddy Roberts (drums), and Colin Gorman (bass) – dressed up and performing within the world of the album’s elegant cover art.
Written and sung by Collins, the song bids adieu to a skewed friendship in just over two-and-a-half searing minutes.
“‘Cat’s Cradle’ is about the realization that no matter how much love, effort, and consideration you put into a friendship, sometimes it just isn’t enough to make it work,” she explained.
“The lyrics reflect on how being passive aggressive and not communicating directly can just lead to tension, confusion, and frustration in any relationship. Confrontation can be really challenging, especially when you’re worried about how what you feel might make someone else feel, and I have the tendency to suppress my own concerns and apologize first. With this song, I wanted to acknowledge my own thoughts and emotions without feeling bad for having them.”
Regarding the video, Collins added, “Because the video for ‘Cat’s Cradle’ would be the first glimpse into our new record, we wanted it to visually and aesthetically nod to the album cover art. Drew, Lauren, and the entire team we worked with did an incredible job of making the video we wanted come to life – a simple concept that’s visually compelling.”
“I Won’t Care How You Remember Me,” now available for pre-order, finds the group at the height of their powers, fusing their collective skills with the synchronicity and energy they honed over several years of nonstop touring. Whereas their latest output, 2017’s “Spin,” was replete with several dense layers of instruments and vocals, “I Won’t Care” pushes the elements of liveliness and human connectivity forward. This back-to-the-basement approach resulted in a new songwriting dynamic.
While “Spin” found Walsh and Collins splitting writing duties, “I Won’t Care” marks the first time all four members shared songwriting input. The band’s most sonically ambitious and lyrically affecting album to date, “I Won’t Care How You Remember Me” sees a newfound freshness and creative freedom crystalizing the lush world of Tigers Jaw.
While at first the title track – featuring Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull on backing vocals – seemed to be an unapologetically defiant statement, it ended up carrying a greater significance for the band, who rallied around it as a sentiment of shared personal renaissance that sets the tone for the album, as well as the band as a whole.
“This album is a hopeful time capsule of a band who has been through a lot together. It’s about growth, self-reflection, and figuring out how to be present in the moment to really take stock of what’s important, without getting sidetracked by the opinions of others or things out of our control,” Walsh explained.
“Tigers Jaw can get through anything and be stronger because of it. We’ve endured lots of change over the last 15 years, but a lot of things have remained consistent. We make the music we want to make, we push each other to continue evolving and growing as musicians, and we are so proud of where we are now.”
“I Won’t Care How You Remember Me” tracklist:
1. I Won’t Care How You Remember Me
2. Cat’s Cradle
3. Hesitation
4. New Detroit
5. Can’t Wait Forever
6. Lemon Mouth
7. Body Language
8. Commit
9. Never Wanted To
10. Heaven Apart
11. Anniversary
On June 25, they released a single that won’t be on the new album called “Warn Me,” their first new music in three years.
“‘Warn Me’ is about being blindsided by something positive in your life. It’s that moment when you realize you normalized unhealthy relationships or behaviors. I’ve been hesitant in the past to write from a more positive point of view, but my entire personal life went through an upheaval a few years back and it inspired me to see things through a new lens,” Walsh said.
“This was one of the first songs we worked on with Colin and Teddy and feels like a perfect song to kick off this next chapter of our band. Will Yip did such a great job of bringing out everyone’s musical personality in our performances. It’s a relentlessly driving but fun song, and I think it captures our live sound and energy really accurately.”
Formed in 2005, Tigers Jaw have spent the past 15 years refining their sound – unconventionally catchy riffs, the melodic intertwining of male/female vocals, and timelessly relatable lyricism – while cultivating a passionate following with live shows and tours all around the world. “Spin,” released in 2017 via Yip’s Atlantic Records imprint Black Cement Records, cemented the band as a songwriting force, earning the band their NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert debut and critical acclaim from Pitchfork, Vice/Noisey, The Fader, Stereogum, Paper Magazine, NYLON, Billboard, Brooklyn Vegan, and many more.
They returned to their hometown area last year to play a sold-out acoustic show at Karl Hall and co-headlined a massive drive-in benefit concert outside Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre earlier this year, just a small part of the wave of critical and commercial success they’ve received since the release of “Spin.” As the curator of Black Cement, Yip chose Tigers Jaw as the first band to be featured on the label, overseeing the creative process with Collins and Walsh, who have kept Tigers Jaw going through various incarnations.
At the end of 2019, they finally toured with The Menzingers, another Scranton band that has broken out into the mainstream. While they were friends for years and played many local shows together, they had “never done a proper tour together” until their national run with Culture Abuse, which began on Oct. 25 in Columbus, Ohio and wrapped up on Dec. 7 in Boston, Massachusetts.
See NEPA Scene’s photos and a review of Tigers Jaw’s 2020 Wilkes-Barre performance here and watch an exclusive interview with Brianna Collins in Episode 109 of the NEPA Scene Podcast, where she talks about Tigers Jaw’s rise to fame, what drew her to local music at a young age, tour stories and meeting bands she grew up listening to, working with Will Yip on “Spin” and “Charmer,” songwriting and the evolution of Tiger Jaw’s sound, her favorite shows, their sold-out 10th anniversary show in Scranton last year, their current lineup, and more:
