HEAR: Halloween Sounds | The Laughing Chimes – “A Promise To Keep”

Chris Ryan October 30, 2023 Hear, Indie Earworm, Read, See No Comments

Just in time for Halloween The Laughing Chimes bring us a dark and gloomy “A Promise To Keep” that will get you right in the mood for the holiday! Take a listen below and let us know your thoughts.

The newest Laughing Chimes single, “A Promise To Keep,” expands on the band’s now familiar jangle-pop sound with blooms and echoes of Southern Gothic rock (think Fables-era REM or the second Pylon album) as well as the ambitious grandeur of late 70s UK post-punk forebears. “A Promise To Keep” blends lyricist Evan Seurkamp’s vision of countless abandoned towns of Appalachia with cavernous vocal poeticism, moth-wing guitars, and the lyrical bass of new band member Avery Bookman into a haunting anthem of decaying houses and moonlit fields.
On the “B-side” we have the band’s version of “Ballerina Out of Control,” a deep cut from 80s jangle/dream-pop band The Ocean Blue and a formative influence on the Seurkamp brothers. The Laughing Chimes’ version is stunning, evoking a mood of melancholic ache that makes a perfect complement to the dark drive of “A Promise To Keep.”