Since 2016, Philadelphia-based outfit The Chairman Dances have developed a distinctive amalgamation of indie rock, art pop and folk. Led by songwriter Eric Krewson, the band direct this sound into a compassionate and searching style, drawing on a range of literary and theological themes to explore political and spiritual ideas, and ask questions as pressing now as they have ever been.
But rather than channeling the numbness and dread of the contemporary age, the outfit actively work against it. “The Chairman Dances have never been satisfied with highlighting the worst of society,” we wrote in a review of 2018’s Child of My Sorrow. “This is a band more concerned with the shining spirit of humanity in the face of such turmoil, drawing not just hope but meaning from those working against the cold individualism of our time.” As we continued:
Even the most morose and melancholic songs possess a bright spirit and call to change, as though subject to the realisation that we can be more than consumerist shells. Of course, this is not some pure white epiphany of goodwill. Often […] the sensation registers as a nameless confusion, as though the world is suddenly too strange to inhabit normally, or perhaps the protagonists too strange to live in the mundane world.
Krewson got to work on new material in 2019 while serving as an artist in residence in the Cascade mountains of Washington State. Though lodging and sharing meals with two other artists, his days were spent in solitude, but the songs that emerged tended toward human connection. The result is the strength of your arm, a brand new record to be released in the coming months. And with contributions from Dan Comly, Dan Finn, Will Schwarz, Kevin Walker and Luke Pigott joining Krewson, the album is as richly woven as we’ve come to expect from The Chairman Dances.
Today sees the release of the record’s lead single, ‘I pulled the sheet back over my head’. Serving as an introduction to the narrative voice of the strength of your arm, the song is frank in its depiction of contemporary living, where difficulties constantly test our resilience, attempt to drag us under. Where perseverance is not some monolithic quality but something uneven and fluctuating.
“I spent a week in bed. I thought it might help,” Krewson sings in the opening lines. “And when it didn’t help / I pulled the sheet back over my head / However long it takes, I’ll get better.” In this way, the record presents our world back at us. A time and space where there is no flawless living, where conditions range from unsatisfactory to hellish and there is no choice but to make do. The question then becomes, can we recognise such struggles in others? Can we reconcile our own concerns in order to help?
The strength of your arm is out on 23rd July and in the meantime you can get ‘I pulled the sheet back over my head’ from The Chairman Dances Bandcamp page.
Artwork by Heather Swenson, photo by Brooke Marsh