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It might be August, but we’re still experiencing the sweet sounds of summer thanks to garage-rock Brooklyn four-piece Best Behavior and their first song release in two years, “Say.” Out today, the track is a taste of the band’s sophomore EP, Things That Happened (coming to airwaves near you, Fall 2017).
The album was actually completed in early 2016, but when Best Behavior opened for The Darkness, producer Justin Gerrish (Vampire Weekend, The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) happened to be in attendance, liked what he heard, and offered to have the band re-record their EP in his private studio. You don’t pass on an offer like that. And that extra year was a welcome reprieve for lead singer Alex Gruenberg who has struggled with social anxiety all his life. With the rare luxuries of solitude and time, he was able to press pause on this chaotic world, expand his sound, and fine-tune each line.
On the surface, "Say" splashes around like a West Coast sound, but the guys’ New York edge cracks the rose-colored lenses and we’re left with the feeling of sandy grit and whipping wind, sans pastel filter and shady palm fronds. It’s LA with a New York twist, giving us “summer” but with a kick.
It starts with a bouncy beat, some reverberating bass and a sunny electric chaser. Right off the bat, I have a pep to my step. At lyrical face-value, it’s a little more bittersweet. The song is about trying to date these days and getting those signals that person might not be that into you, but you also don’t know how to end it or what to say. In an era of swipes and clicks, I think we can all agree: it’s hard to find the words. At 2:09 the acoustic break feels a bit somber, like an August should be, lapping up the last few moments of sunlight on Labor Day Weekend; a moment of peace before we’re back in the hamster wheel, commute-work-sleep-repeat.
If “Say” is any indication of what’s to come on Best Behavior's forthcoming album, the cliche “good things take time” couldn’t ring truer. Because it’s evident that over the course of all those extra days, a band can really figure out exactly what it wants to say.
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