The Districts support Standing Rock with two new demos - WXPN | Vinyl At Heart
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The Districts | photo by Jeremy Zimmerman | jeremy-zim.com

Fresh off a weekend of sold-out Johnny Brenda’s shows, Philly rockers The Districts have seen fit to share an even fresher pair of demos in support of the Standing Rock Medic and Healing Council. They’re available now via their Bandcamp page, so if you’ve been dying for some new Districts tunes and want to support an urgent cause, now’s your chance.

“One to Another” kicks things off with fuzzy acoustic guitar and Pat Cassidy’s watery, tremolo-ed leads. Then, Rob Grote’s airy falsetto propels the track into the kind of swaggering, mid-tempo shuffle that these guys excel at. They still sound very much like The Districts, but there’s a palpable maturation here in the tight, call-and-response guitars, Connor Jacobus’ grooving bass, and Grote’s smoothed-out vocal delivery. With the DAPL in mind, lines like “I don’t have to break this time” and “You can’t bend my body” take on a defiant, poignant tone. It’s the perfect rallying cry for what has turned out a grueling, months-long fight.

While “One to Another” was engineered and mixed by frequent collaborator Keith Abrams, the second track, “Alice” was recorded in The Districts’ practice space, With Braden Lawrence’s bouncy, syncopated groove, the exaggerated dynamics, and distinctly fuzzier production, “Alice” falls more in line with  2015’s A Flourish and a Spoil, but that’s far from a bad thing, The same goes for the lyrics, which sees Grote chasing after a girl chasing after the party.Frankly, I don’t think Alice knows what she’s missing.

The fight for Standing Rock is as vital now as it was months ago, and it’s great to see artists like The Districts doing their part to stand in solidarity. You can stream and purchase “One to Another” and “Alice” below, and if you’re lucky, catch them on tour as they play a string of intimate East Coast dates with Philly’s Tangiers this December.

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