Exclusive: Listen to Guster’s Stripped-Down Acoustic Version of “Hard Times”
The track is off the band's forthcoming album Look Alive, their first in four years
Photo by Alysse Gafkjen
Guster have shared an acoustic rendition of “Hard Times,” premiering exclusively here at Paste. The track is off the band’s forthcoming album Look Alive, their first new LP in four years, out Jan. 18, 2019, through Nettwerk Music and Ocho Mule Records.
The studio version of “Hard Times” is synth-soaked and atmospheric, full of layered textures and filtered vocals. By stripping that all away, this new acoustic version emphasizes the band’s pure songwriting chops, transforming the song into a tender acoustic ballad, one with a sadness behind its beautiful arpeggios and golden choruses.
Guster recorded Look Alive in a vintage keyboard museum in Calgary during the winter. Their producer, Leo Abrahams (Regina Spektor, David Byrne), told the band to pursue “colder” sounds than on previous releases. That coldness is laid bare on this new version of “Hard Times,” where singers Ryan Miller and Adam Gardner sound borderline exhausted by the titular times, but keep pushing through all the same.
“Throughout our career, we’ve put a lot of care and imagination into the sonics and textures of our albums,” Miller tells Paste. “‘Hard Times,’ at first blush, may seem like a radical departure from our usual palette but we hope that this version shows that, ultimately, it all comes back to what has driven this band for over 25 years: a song we can be proud of.”
Listen to “Hard Times (Acoustic)” and check out the band’s 2011 Daytrotter Session below. Guster will be touring throughout the beginning of 2019—find those dates further down.
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