Premiere: Civic's Confident, Questioning "Rocking Chair"

[Image: detail of photo by Andre Rober Beriau] Two premieres in one week? Sure, why not. Longtime readers might do a double-take for this one, as we rarely stray from post-punk or more abstract electronic sounds here at Clicky Clicky, and the terrific new track below from Boston's Civic instead fits more comfortably under the descriptor Americana or folk-rock. But IRL you'll find this blog's executive editor tuned to WMBR's Lost Highway Americana and roots show every Saturday morning, so these sounds aren't exactly outside of our wheelhouse, either. Which makes for a long and irrelevant introduction to the very fine new song "Rocking Chair" from Civic. The quartet gradually arranged itself around the songwriting of singer and guitarist Dana Osterling early in 2015 and played its first show with its present line-up -- albeit still under Ms. Osterling's name, as the group had not arrived at the Civic moniker -- at the dearly departed T.T. The Bear's last May. The foursome is gearing up to release a debut EP titled Things With Feathers next month. We are pleased to premiere for you today the heartfelt strummer "Rocking Chair," the fourth track from the six-song set.

The song stages Osterling's voice up front and above picked acoustic and wisps of pedal-steel before marshalling a cracking snare to drive the mid-tempo song through sincere verses and choruses. Within the latter, Osterling muses on the place of the natural and mundane within grander, spiritual schemes. The melody and easy beat are arresting, but so are the little details: how Osterling's vocal vibrato is echoed by a vibratoed guitar flourish in the chorus; the classic sound of slap-back on her vocals; the subtle organ coloring the edges of the mix. Like Kathleen Edwards? Well, then, you're going to like this. Civic self-releases Things With Feathers as a CD, limited-edition cassette and digital download April 8, and the band will play what amounts to a release show with Minneapolis' Little Fevers April 6 at Atwood's Tavern in Cambridge, Mass. Long-time readers may be interested to note that Civic practices in the same building as Clicky Clicky faves Hallelujah The Hills, whose practice space was the subject of our wildly popular Show Us Yours feature back in late 2013. Civic tracked a bonus track for the physical copies of the forthcoming EP live to tape there, and also recorded some overdubs there, so we suppose a small huzzah for Puritan Garage is in order. Stream "Rocking Chair" via the embed below. There will be no pre-orders for Things With Feathers, so click here April 8 to set yourself up.

Civic: Bandcamp | Facebook | Internerds