Band of Horses Go Dad-Rock on First Why Are You OK Single, ‘Casual Party’

Ahh, suburbia, how your safety bores white, male rock stars. David Byrne “wouldn’t live there if you paid [him]” and on Wilco’s peak dad-rock song, Jeff Tweedy tries to stay busy doing the dishes and mowing the lawn, but ultimately declares, “I hate it here.” The irony is, there isn’t anything more boring than a song about being bored.

Band of Horses’ first single “Casual Party,” off of their forthcoming fifth studio album Why Are You OK, bemoans the horrors of (gasp) manicured lawns and boring party small-talk, with the band joining the ranks of the many unsatisfied rock stars whose mortgages and midlife crises are mined for music. The song begins with an audio-clip declaring, “It’s a complete farce,” which might be a reference to the Lynchian philosophy the song follows that behind the country club gates lies a darkness. Ben Bridwell sings about himself in the third-person, referring to himself through the lens of gossiping partygoers who think he’s a sociopath. But Ben feels out of place and desperately searches for an exit, resolving, “I got plenty to live for.”

In a press release, Why Are You OK is described as being “populated by the strange but true cast of characters from Bridwell’s hometown Charleston, S.C.” The song was premiered on a fan’s Twitter page in the form of its Korean karaoke-style lyric video, which you can watch below via Vevo. Why Are You OK is out in June on Interscope Records/American Recordings.