Kevin Bronson on December 7th, 2015

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The new single by riff-slingers Rainbow Jackson offers a different but equally tasty look from the band, heretofore always referred to as a “scuzzy power-pop quartet.” Despite its titular ultimatum, “Take It Or Leave It” doesn’t quite have the sneer of last year’s “Perpetual Summer” EP — which is not to say it lacks muscle. The song’s chunky chords and gritty guitar parts are balanced by more lush vocals, as bassist Laith Khalaf, who wrote the song, takes the mic here. “I wrote it to make sense of a situation that started to make no sense to me,” he says of the inspiration. “Love and personal pursuits don’t always work together.” [Insert chorus of uh-huhs from musicians everywhere.] Indeed, frontman Chad Carlisle says it’s a rallying cry for “pushing against the grain for the sake of a better future. It’s about love, hate, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” The song is the first new music since last year from the quartet of Carlisle, Khalaf, guitarist Sam Dagger and drummer Brandon Hardy — and the first of a series of songs they will preview this month at their Monday night residency at the Satellite.

||| Stream: “Take It Or Leave It”

||| Live: Rainbow Jackson has the free residency every Monday night this month at the Satellite.

||| Previously: “Nightcrawler,” “Psycho Betty,” “Freckles,” “Flamingo Star,” “Robinson Crusoe”