eldridge rodriguez have i gone too far single cover - dark, ot of focus image of a person standing in a forest at night

Eldridge Rodriguez – Have I Gone Too Far

“A product of the social conditions from which it emerged, the album captured an America embracing its reactionary roots, as well as the ongoing retaliation from those opposed to the trend.” That’s how we described Slightest of Treason, the eighth album from Boston‘s Eldridge Rodriguez. With its “brooding post-punk style” balanced with “a human spirit too,” the record collected songs “caught up in the tension between disenchantment and longing.” An urgent dispatch from a country slipping into its worst tendencies.

Only the record was released in February 2020, and the band could have no idea as to the imminent disruption of their plans. With live venues closed and audiences otherwise distracted, the album joined the endless list of releases lost amid the early days of the pandemic. But rather than mourn their luck, the four-piece returned to the studio, putting their energy into new material.

A follow-up album will be released in due course, though for now the band are focusing on a series of singles. The first of which, ‘Megalodon’, showed off “a sound that’s a little brighter,” we wrote in a preview, “possessing a carefree bounce however wry and cutting the lyrics. As though the band have stumbled across a certain slacker rock acceptance amid the trauma of the moment.”

Eldridge Rodriguez have now returned with ‘Have I Gone Too Far’, the latest single from that recording period which continues their more laidback and reflective turn without sacrificing what made their previous work so striking. Powered by a compelling rhythm, the track is shaded by a sense of contemplation, capturing the strange blend of panic, depression and monotony which marked the period in which it was created. What emerges is a tone somewhere between fondness and weariness which builds its own urgent compassion.

B-side ‘All My Favourites Clowns Are Dead’ takes a more playful tack, channelling the classic rock richness of Talking Heads, David Bowie or The Flaming Lips. The tragicomic tone implied by the title is brought to life in it full vivid splendour. A widescreen tale of both loneliness and fun that is full of life.

‘Have I Gone Too Far’ is out now on Midriff Records and you can get it from the their website.