[Cover photo credit to Steve DeSeve] 

Brooklyn-based Psych-Pop trio Psychic Lines have shared their track “The Darkest Mountain” ahead of the band’s fifth studio album, Sunset on Sunset, due out August 23, 2024. The song share’s the band’s “vision for a brighter future in the face of adversity.” On September 8, 2024, the band will celebrate the new album with an official album release show at NYC’s Berlin with support from Richard Papiercuts and  Garrett  Devoe.

The latest single touches on “the roadblocks that tend to pop up to keep one away from a feeling of contentment in life.”

Bandleader Phil Jacob explains what the title means thus:

The darkest mountain is the main obstacle that always seems to be standing in the way of our happiness, no matter who we are. It’s always different for everyone, and it can shift from day to day or even moment to moment. It’s that self-talk that starts out with, ‘If only I could overcome this one thing, life would be manageable.’ This feeling is universal, and yet some people tend to assume that those with more wealth, success or fame are immune to it. We often forget that many are struggling much more than we are, just trying to survive.

Sunset on Sunset sounds unlike any previous Psychic Lines release and explores a very different topic.

Phil Jacob explains:

Lyrically, the album touches on all the delusions we cling to. They may give us hope and spur us on but set us up for disappointment when we inevitably discover that the real world doesn’t quite measure up. Many of these delusions are shaped by our lifelong immersion in social media, film and television.

In order to bridge this reality gap, we further deceive ourselves and others, seeking escape in the same stories and mythologies that caused our faulty expectations in the first place. 

 The LP delves into “escapism and the stories one tells themselves to make sense of an ever-changing, chaotic world” and, at times, takes a humorous approach to our errors.