Welcome Center Release New Single 'Losers'

On July 16 Welcome Center, the Dallas/Philadelphia electronic-pop duo of Jesse Smith and Aaron Sternick will release their EP Talk Talk Talk (pre-order). Today the band revealed "Losers" the latest single to be lifted from the forthcoming EP. The upbeat, disco influenced single, which was written last summer when the band was listening ABBA & Jessie Ware, debuted today at BreakThru Radio and can also be shared at YouTube.

About the song Welcome Center's Jesse Smith says:

We wanted to write something a bit more disco than we had in the past-- an upbeat track with a simple chorus. I was reading Cherry by Nico Walker & Norweigan Wood by Haruki Murakami at the time, so I crafted this story about two forlorn lovers living on the edge of society, longing for a purity they never had. It's a bittersweet, coming-of-age tale about two addicts. I don't think that's immediately obvious thanks to the upbeat music-- which stands in stark contrast to the lyrics. That wasn't by design; it just shook out that way after dealing with everything that happened last year.

Aaron and I tend to write maximalist music; we gravitate towards adding more colors to a picture to try and liven it up. But with the songs on Talk Talk Talk, we were really focused on removing excess and only keeping the parts that mattered. I think we got pretty close to achieving that on Losers."

Last month the band shared the official video for "Parasite City" the first single to be lifted from Talk Talk Talk. The video which was directed by Richard Krause, debuted MXDWN and can also be shared at YouTube. "Parasite City" is the band's 'glass is half-full' song about everything we experienced in the last year.

The band's Jesse Smith says, "This is the most optimistic Aaron and I have felt in a while. After a year like 2020, the list of reasons to feel defeated is never-ending. Comparatively, Aaron and I got by okay, and we're still catching our breath."

"Parasite City" is available now on all streaming platforms to add to your favorite playlists.

Welcome Center's Jesse Smith & Aaron Sternick have a history of getting lost on America's oldest roads. Long before they were Welcome Center, Jesse & Aaron spent a decade exploring the hostel circuit of America. From one town to the next, the two absorbed whatever they could about the land they call home: How people from different cultures and countries think about America; what secret paths lead to unadulterated beauty along all five coasts; how to comfortably sleep in a car when you breakdown on the side of the highway; etc.

In 2017, the two began sowing the seeds of a taut post-punk/synth-pop sound and watched that garden grow faster than imaginable. It wasn't long before they found themselves back on those old roads- this time in support of their first EP, Disorder, as well as their first defining single, "Is This All There Is?". The American DIY scene was booming and Jesse and Aaron wholeheartedly embraced the opportunity to pay their dues and burn the candle at both ends. While they spent their nights in tightly crowded punk house basements, the duo continued to clock in to their 9-5 tech jobs by day, oftentimes continuing to work after soundcheck.

Nearly four years after that first tour, it's been too long since the band has seen those highways again. Talk Talk Talk is the result of that departure, looking outward to confront hard realities about the land they grew up in and channeling it into something more hopeful than before. Lead single "Parasite City" challenges you to fight the urge to give in to all-consuming anxiety about the place you live. Jesse Smith says, "The song is about every sh*t town you grew up in. It's the dead-end job/relationship you can't escape. It's the sad state of your country because of crooked leadership. It's the thing you want to hide from but can't." "Burn" meditates on feelings of helplessness but finds faith growing out of the ashes. "Losers" finds bittersweet joy in addiction and depravity before longing for youthful naïveté. Talk Talk Talk is a glass-half-full vision of the year that was and the power of pushing forward with friends.

Listen here:

Photo Credit: Andrew Ryan Shepherd

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