COURTESY OF MEAGAN GREGG VIA FLICKR
On Feb. 10, Quarterbacks released its self-titled debut album, a collection of nineteen songs, the longest of which is one minute and thirty-nine seconds.
The band is made up of singer and guitarist Dean Eagle, singer and bassist Tom Christie and drummer Max Restaino. Eagle, a native of New Paltz, N.Y., formed the band in 2009 and spent the next five years writing all the songs and playing in basements.
In 2012, the band recorded an EP entitled Loveseat, but the music was only released on Bandcamp, an online music site for independent artists — never on iTunes. Quarterbacks has a relaxed, DIY attitutde and when asked by diy4lyfe blog about the name of the band, vocalist Dean further exhibited this general attitude.
“The person I started the band with picked the name from a text message full of band name possibilities. This is a proudly wussy band, so I like the football name. It’s like a joke (we’re a joke). The all-caps might be an oppositional, yelling-type thing on some level, I’m not sure,” he said.
Quarterbacks is the band’s first full-length album, clocking in at a respectable twenty-two minutes.
The band has certainly come a long way since they were playing basements in their hometown. They now play shows all over New York, and last year they toured up and down the eastern seaboard and even made it as far west as Chicago.
According to their Facebook page, the band defines its genre as “twee punx.” It sits somewhere between alternative pop and punk rock, its romantic lyrics on par with those of the singer/songwriter genre. On its own, each song presents a small glimpse into Eagle’s optimistic perspective on love. Together, the songs play as one whole story.
The album opens with “Usual,” in which Eagle shares that he is in love, and throughout the rest of the album, he recounts specific instances with the object of his affection. By the last song of the album, “Point Nine,” the romance is hopeful, excited and self-assured.
The music is marked by constant drumbeats in the background, subtle guitar and Eagle’s young voice. Quarterbacks is reminiscent of The Vaccines or The Smiths, but its main characteristic is brevity.
Because the songs are so short, it is doubtful that anything on the album will ever get radio time. None of the songs really have much of a chorus, and they aren’t really the candy pop that usually ends up in the top 40. The band will probably never reach any semblance of mainstream fame despite an album full of artful lyrics and smart music.
Eagle proves himself as a songwriter with self-aware lyrics like “These chords have probably been used a thousand times before to write songs about girls,” from “Last Boy.” From “Stay in Luv,” he comments again on his songwriting experience with “When I fell in love I wrote a song every week.”
His lyrics are also tremendously romantic, like “I feel every mile that is keeping you from me, and I can’t wait until they melt away beneath your airplane seat,” from the song “Lauren.”
Quarterbacks is fresh and different, and by not featuring a catchy single on the album, the band breaks traditions formed by record labels. It only seems natural, then, that their album wouldn’t be radio material.
At times, Quarterbacks can feel a little repetitive because the entire album sounds like a continuous song. Since each song has a similar theme, there isn’t a lot that’s new from song to song. However, since the album plays so cohesively, the listening experience is seamless.
When asked by The Huffington Post about the latest album and how and where it was recorded, Dean further highlighted the band’s DIY attitude.
“We camped out in the Tin Roof shed… in the middle of a neighborhood up the street from my house. The LP’s mostly live because I wanted that and insisted on playing drums/guitar/bass all at the same time with my bandmates Tom Christie and Max Restaino… The whole album was recorded in about 10 hours, most of that was vocals because I can’t sing.”
Quarterbacks is available for free on Bandcamp, on Spotify and on iTunes. Quarterbacks is not currently touring, but they are playing a show at Bard College on March 6 and at Skidmore College on April 18.