Chicago-based group COURSE released their new single “I Called You Late Last Night.” The latest track to release off their upcoming album Tight Feathers (out October 20th), “I Called You Late Last Night” balances a series of delicately contradictory emotions, both buoyant and foreboding. Under The Radar exclaimed “‘I Called You Late Last Night’ shifts and shimmers subtly, twisting beguiling rhythms and mesmerizing synth tones together.”
“This was the first song I wrote on this album and I have been playing it live for a couple years more as a rock song,” said COURSE songwriter/singer/guitarist Jessica Robbins. “I knew I didn’t want it to sound like a rock song on the album and Kyle did an amazing job really getting what I wanted from this song and it’s definitely one of my favorites. This song is a vibe. You feel that calm, and everything is good. You’re with your best friend in a club. Or sitting at home. There’s also a sense of teetering on spinning out of control. But the whole world slows down and everything feels ok.”
“I Called You Late Last Night” follows the release of the defiant single “None Of Us Are Good Enough,” which finds COURSE overcoming fears and insecurities with acceptance and the strength to overcome. The frenetic lead single “Too Busy For Feelings” is also out now along with the Severance-inspired official video, directed by Maria Belafonte and featuring actor Katy Fullan among other special guests. Atwood Magazine called it “A welcome and wondrous return…a churning, aching, synth-driven fever dream that finds COURSE ready to blast off.”
The anticipated follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut, COURSE presents a more ornately developed, atmospheric sound to accompany their characteristically narrative anthems. Produced by Nashville indie-electropop wizard Kyle Andrews, each track on Tight Feathers incorporates carefully layered instrumentation (modular synths, analog drum machines, acoustic and electric guitar, bass), blooming with new textures as each musical line unfolds. The album features contributions from a rotating cast of top-tier musicians, most notably vocalist Jamie Semel, who’s ethereal, rich harmonies offer the perfect foil to Robbins’ subtle force.
More elaborate than past COURSE releases, Tight Feathers is laced with sharply written reflections on embracing the chaotic onslaught of life, savoring its complexities, while protecting your inner self. The resulting album demonstrates a particularly relatable kind of existential anxiety—hovering tone-wise between carefree and swamped, happy and overwhelmed, light-as-a-feather and unavoidably ominous. At times, the album drifts into nostalgic territory in the vein of acts like Best Coast or Tennis, but the songs are never saccharine: There remains a familiar hint of anxiety at the root of each track, grounding the music firmly in the modern confusion of the real world.
Melding an enchanting mix of bedroom-pop, alt-electronic and indie-rock, COURSE made their auspicious debut in 2021 with their full-length album A Late Hour featuring the “optimistic” (Consequence) breakout single “Sixteen.” Fronted by Robbins, the dreamy synth-pop collection of intricate, collaborative narratives pulled from both imagination and real life experiences, produced by Dan Dusinsky and featuring fellow Chicago artist Kevin Prchal. The album was met with critical acclaim including American Songwriter, Under The Radar, and Chicago Tribune who called it “a body of work that stands strong” while Atwood Magazine named the band an Artist to Watch in 2021. A Late Hour was also accompanied by a collection of short stories, one for each song on the album, written by Robbins called Nickels Under Your Porch.
