​The World is on Fire

why don't you just meet me in the middle
​

The Middle:
​Airheads Xtreme

​Anyone who has gleefully purchased a bag of Airheads Xtremes, ingested it all in one sitting, and then maniacally poured the remaining sugar down their throat knows that sometimes, a little artificial indulgence is exactly what the doctor called for. "The Middle" is a sugary, perfectly-engineered earworm whose irresistible hooks make it the ideal summer song — 4 out of 5 dentists recommend.

​— Catherine Zhang, NPR, July 22, 2018

The World is On Fire: American Acquarium

It's shaping up to be a grey summer, a hard summer, one more in need of a prayer than a party anthem. American prayers are supposed to be grounded in freedom of expression; rock and roll prayers are personal, serving even those who've felt that faith has abandoned them. This one is built on sacred steel and Hammond organ and a strong kick drum, answering earlier anthems of dissent by Woody Guthrie and the Drive-By Truckers and Hurray For the Riff Raff. American Aquarium leader BJ Barham started writing it after the 2016 election, and it's for anyone who couldn't sleep that fall, and in this sticky season is still up late staring at screens that only seem to bring news of rage, dissolution, hate speech and families torn apart, one way or another, by politics. This song sounds like every rock anthem you've heard before, but it's different, because it dwells in the humidity of cynicism and self-doubt, and then fights for a clean breath. The guitars ring, message is plainspoken, necessary: "We must go boldly into the darkness, and be the light." — Ann Powers, NPR, July 22, 2018