Boston, MA shoegaze/alt band Drop Nineteens have announced their new studio album ‘Hard Light‘, and have aire the lead single “Scapa Flow“, their first in over 30 years.
After disbanding in the mid-90s, singer Greg Ackell decided he would never make music again. They’d had a great run and shared stages with bands such as Radiohead, Hole, Blur, PJ Harvey, and Smashing Pumpkins. They went from being teenagers in Boston to mid-twenty-somethings with a few MTV videos, a couple BBC sessions, and numerous festival appearances under their belt.
When Drop Nineteens ceased to be, Ackell felt content; he had the rest of his life in front of him to figure out what he wanted to do, and music was a closed chapter. Then, in 2021, Ackell, for the first time after nearly 30 years, decided to pick up the guitar with intent. Shortly after this, he immediately called Steve Zimmerman, the band’s bassist and fellow guitarist, and got writing. It felt effortless for Ackell, like he never stopped writing music.
The first task of making ‘Hard Light’ was getting the rest of the band back together (Zimmerman, Paula Kelley, Motohiro Yasue, and Peter Koeplin). The record came together over the course of a year, recording at a patchwork of studios all around the country: Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Making music together felt natural, fluid, and exciting. The result was a modern Drop Nineteens record that is completely singular in its sound and vision.
Drop Nineteens have brought clarity and cool in 2023 to the genre they helped create. A portrait of a band 30 years later, as talented and dedicated to their craft as ever.
Check out the album’s tracklist and watch the video for “Scapa Flow“, below.
Drop Nineteens ‘Hard Light’ Tracklist:
- Hard Light
- Scapa Flow
- Gal
- Tarantula
- The Price Was High
- Rose With Smoke
- A Hitch
- Lookout
- Another One Another
- Policeman Getting Lost
- T
‘Hard Light’ will be out on November 3 via Wharf Cat Records. Pre-order your copy here.
