Stream: Dutch Party, ‘Lost Boy’

Kevin Bronson on February 10th, 2016

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Dutch Party — the pop mantle of singer-songwriter Ken Franklin and his revolving cast of players — have begun unveiling music to follow up last year’s “Astral Nights” EP. And, thankfully, rather than sticking to lovelorn ditties or odes to California sunsets, Franklin is finding inspiration in current affairs. Behind the playful, childlike clamor of the new single “Lost Boy” is a fear that we’re all going to hell in handbasket, or in our Facebook timelines. It “suggests that huge swaths of people have checked out of society, glazing over the real issues in favor of empty daily musings,” Franklin says. “… Part of me feels like we’re teetering. It’s like that moment when you decide to have one more drink or head home. If you have that last drink you’ll be smashed. The world is nearing that point, ‘Should I keep getting fucked up or go home?’ I still think there’s a chance right now to turn everything around, but it’s getting down to that last drink.”

More obvious is the new tune “The Passenger,” a folk-pop chanson that’s as close to a protest song as anybody is getting these days. It’s a simple, election-year call to action: “We can be messengers with a name / So start talking loud or lose your voice,” Franklin sings. You can divine where his political sentiments lay from the lyrics, but the point, of course, is to participate in the process; don’t just go along for the ride.

And in still more Dutch Party news, the band has unveiled the Franklin-directed video for the single “Howl,” which appeared on last year’s “Kitsuné America 4,” the compilation released by the French label.

||| Stream: “Lost Boy” and “The Passenger”