Listen To “Minnesota,” A New Song From The Courtneys’ Upcoming Album – AdHoc

Listen To “Minnesota,” A New Song From The Courtneys’ Upcoming Album

And how they make a promise to not be left behind. 

Minnesota seems to occupy a particular place in contemporary musician’s imaginations. For both Lil Yachty and The Courtneys, it’s a cold and faraway one. “Minnesota” is the third single from The Courtneys forthcoming record, II. Like their previous single, “Tour”, the song is driving and anthemic. The rhythm section maintains a steady, propulsive pulse, like highway markers passing by the window, while guitarist Courtney Loove splits the difference between Sonic Youth and Boston-like guitar heroics. But if the expectation of road anthems is to represent “motoring away”, leaving something behind—an expectation that “Tour” delivered on, albeit with a palpable anxiety and ambivalence—“Minnesota” is instead about being the one left behind. The opening verse describes restless stagnancy, with drummer Jen Twynn Payne singing that she’s “back and forth” and “up and down.” Confronted with the prospect of being left behind, she promises to see the song’s ‘you’ “in the winter snow” sometime in an uncertain future.

II is out February 17 via Flying Nun. The Courtneys will be touring throughout North America to support the record, stopping in Brooklyn to perform at Baby’s All Right with Jay Som on March 29.

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