Hop Along Release Biblical New Single, “Not Abel”
Photo by Tonje ThilesenPhiladelphia’s Hop Along have released the second single from their forthcoming album, Bark Your Head Off, Dog, out on April 6 via Saddle Creek.
After the announcement of their new album and the release of its first single, “How Simple,” the band have released a second, “Not Abel.”
While “How Simple” was an inward-looking track, the indie-folk, violin-filled “Not Abel” examines the actions of other people, particularly those of biblical figures. The band’s songwriter and lead vocalist Frances Quinlan says of the inspiration for the new track:
Karl Ove Knausgaard wrote a great book called A Time for Everything. I’d say it inspired a lot of little moments, in this song especially. At one point he writes about Cain and Abel, but approaches it with a far more intimate, even mundane lens, completely unlike the Bible, which is pretty bare of any personal description. As you spend a few days with them, Cain becomes increasingly sympathetic. It’s a funny thing trying to examine beliefs. Sympathy and understanding complicate everything too much I suppose.
Listen to “Not Abel” below and preorder Bark Your Head Off, Dog here.