Tacoma, Washington, rockers Enumclaw are keeping the singles coming ahead of their much-anticipated debut album Save the Baby, out Oct. 14 on Luminelle Recordings. “Park Lodge” follows previous singles “Cowboy Bepop” and “Jimmy Neutron,” and is accompanied by a music video directed by John C. Peterson & Ethan Scoma.
Where its predecessors were fast-paced rockers rife with immediacy, “Park Lodge” has a more meticulously crafted atmosphere—bassist Eli Edwards and drummer Ladaniel Gipson rein in their explosive energy, bringing frontman Aramis Johnson’s poignant songwriting to the fore. Johnson’s vocal delivery is unusually subdued, as if weighed down with emotion—he and Nathan Cornell’s dark, rippling guitars dance around the edges of the track as Johnson reflects on how far he’s come, singing, “You don’t know what it’s like / To watch your mother sleep on a couch / I had to change my life.” Cinematic strings see the song through its crescendo, with Johnson insisting, “Yeah, it’s gonna be OK, OK / Yeah, it’s gonna be alright.” A searingly melodic guitar riff punctuates the track, like a match burning especially bright for those fleeting moments before it dies out.
“This is the song I’m the most proud of on the album and is one of my most honest songs I’ve written,” says frontman Aramis Johnson in a statement, continuing:
I’ve wanted to be in the position I am in right now my whole life. I’ve lived in a two-bedroom apartment with my whole family and had to watch my mom sleep on the couch every night, I’ve had to watch my childhood best friend battle with schizophrenia and I wanted to talk about these things because I don’t think they get talked about in rock music. I really feel like my life and so many people’s lives depend on me changing my whole life, not a little bit of it, not half of it but my whole life.
Enumclaw will support illuminati hotties on their fall North American tour—find those dates right here.
Check out the “Park Lodge” video below, along with Enumclaw’s 2022 Paste session.