PREMIERE: Soraia reflects on the late Jeff Buckley in "Wandering Star" - WXPN | Vinyl At Heart
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Soraia | photo by Mark Weiss | courtesy of the artist

Philly hard rock force of nature Soraia is readying its latest project, Dead Reckoning, due out October 13th on Little Steven Van Zandt’s label Wicked Cool Records.

The band’s past releases have focused on high-octane garage rock — overdriven guitars dishing speedy riffage, racing to keep pace with frontwoman ZouZou Mansour’s dynamic vocals — and this record has no shortage of that, right from the opening punch of “Quicksand.” But Soraia also takes advantage of the vinyl LP format to stretch out into the realm of different sounds and styles like glossy 80s pop (“Why?”), arena-ready slow burn anthems (“Come Down, Angel”) and glimmering retro rock, best exemplified in the song we’re premiering for you today, “Wandering Star.”

The penultimate song of the record incorporates classic 50s guitar arpeggios and a tremolo effect in the vein of Santo & Johnny’s “Sleep Walk,” and when the lyrics kick in, Mansour reflects on love and mortality as it relates to one wandering star in particular.

As she tells us over e-mail:

It was a song idea Travis [Smith, bassist] brought to me musically, and I’d heard it at a time when I was listening to Jeff Buckley’s “Grace” album a lot. I thought of what it must’ve felt like to be on the side of the river when he drowned, so I told the story from the perspective of being Jeff’s girlfriend, standing on the side of the river. How it must’ve felt with their lives sitting in front of them in such an exciting way, but then, having it stripped from them so abruptly.

The chorus is the conversation of the two lovers before his death, and then her remembering his words after he’s gone.

Listen to Soraia’s “Wandering Star” below, and get a pre-order of Dead Reckoning here. The band celebrates the album next Saturday, September 23rd, with a headlining show at MilkBoy; tickets and more information on that can be found at the XPN Concert Calendar, and full tour dates can be found below.

Tour Dates
Sept 20th – Boston, MA – O’Briens
Sept 22nd – New York City, NY – Berlin
Sept 23rd – Philadelphia, PA – Milkboy
Sept 24th – Pottstown, PA – Fujiyama Sunset Lounge
Sept 26th – Brooklyn, NY – Sunnyvale
Sept 28th – Columbus, OH – Spacebar
Sept 29th- Wapakoneta, OH – Route 33 Rhythm and Brews
Sept 30th – Cincinnati, OH – Urban Artifact
Oct 1st – Dayton, OH – Blind Bob’s
Oct 3rd – Cincinnati, OH – The Drinkery
Oct 5th – Washington, DC – The Pinch
Oct 6th – College Park, MD – The Void
Oct 7th – Monktown, MD – Meteor Music Festival

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