Fits’ “Hot Topic” Is About Failure, But It’s Not An Apology – AdHoc

Fits’ “Hot Topic” Is About Failure, But It’s Not An Apology

Nicholas Cummins: “You don’t owe everyone all of your courage all of the time.”

Brooklyn power-poppers Fits have been tearing up the scene for a couple years now, and for good reason–their loud, playful, DIY aesthetic is shaped as much by bandleader Nicholas Cummins’ smart and pointed songwriting as it is the band’s growing up around and playing in DIY spaces such as Shea Stadium and Silent Barn. The band–Cummins, Brian Orante, Emma Witmer (of gobbinjr), and Joe Galarraga (of Big Ups)–play to these songwriting chops, crafting each minute-long burst of Cummins’ songs into something anthemic and cathartic. Their new song “Hot Topic,” off their upcoming debut album All Belief is Paradise, starts off with a lazy guitar and languid vocals, a sound that betrays Cummins’ lyrical barbs: “You would have not been pissed off if I stood behaved, but I frayed when I did ’cause I can’t.” The song grows louder as Cummins’ voice grows more urgent, but then, after a pause, the song settles into a swooning instrumental groove through its end. It’s the sort of song that, after its minute and a half is over, you’ll probably repeat and repeat.

“This song is about losing your voice, getting caught in the throat, and missing an opportunity to stand up for yourself and who you are,” said Cummins. “In that way it’s about a failure, but it’s also not an apology. National coming out day was last week and it reminded me of this ever-present pressure to describe, defend and explain your identity in really personal ways to complete strangers all the time. The personal is definitely political and all of us are intertwined but sometimes you don’t want to be a narrative, you just want to be a person who’s like, eating a bagel or playing Starcraft of going to the beach and stuff. Society can be exhausting and it can be really easy to forget that we’re all individuals, with 8 billion gender presentations and 8 billion selves. You don’t owe everyone all of your courage all of the time.”

Fits’ debut album, All Belief is Paradise, is out November 17 on Father/Daughter Records. Catch their record release show at Aphaville on November 17 with Peaer, Yucky Duster, and Human People.

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