Raised in Texas and now based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Con Davison started his own solo career after drumming for Dreamspook and now Bad Bad Hats. With the newfound freedom and artistic control, Davison set to crafting his smooth brand of indie rock on debut release Far Off Distant Plans, channelling the likes of Hand Habits and Sam Evian. This was encapsulated in lead single, ‘Talk’, which was, as we wrote in a post last year, “a half-paced and expressive brand of indie pop that kicks into insistent rhythms, changes of tone that signal the emergence of a sense of earnestness.”
We’re pleased to announce that this week sees Con Davison return with a brand new single, ‘Sofa Bed’, and we’re lucky enough to be able to share the song a day early. Building upon the previous release, the track leans into the warm, malleable rhythms to lend a distinctively languid aesthetic, though the sound masks less than sunny themes. “Having spent much of the last 2 years on the road, I feel like I’ve really had to get comfortable with constantly being in a state of missing home,” Davison explains. “I’m not sure there’s any way to make being gone feel better or easier, and ‘Sofa Bed’ leaves it at that. It’s miserable to be away from the ones you love.”
Swapping out any trite answers or melodrama in favour of honest self-awareness, the song doesn’t attempt to answer the tensions at its heart, rather sketch them more fully in order to better understand them. Things are hard and likely staying so, so why pretend otherwise? Instead, Con Davison flips the focus on its head, describing the joy and belonging to be found at home through its very absence on the road, forming an indirect testament to that which is familiar and significant.
You can find Con Davison on Bandcamp.