Ears Wide Open: Blackpaw

Kevin Bronson on October 5th, 2017

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Blackpaw, in August at the Teragram Ballroom (Photo by David Benjamin)

The irony that a propulsive dance track could come to a songwriter while he is bedridden isn’t lost on us, and that’s the tale behind “Defenseless,” the first single from Blackpaw. It’s the work of Adrian Rodriguez, who has played with the Airborne Toxic Event, Avid Dancer and Hanni El Khabib. In 2013, Rodriguez was sidelined by injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident, so, guitar in hand, he kept his mind moving when his body couldn’t. “Defenseless,” made with producer George Lewis Jr. of Twin Shadow, is indebted to the synth-drenched post-punk of ’80s. “Now we’re breaking walls / and climbing fences,” Rodriguez sings plaintively, striking a bold note against the song’s titular malaise. “Defenseless” is the first of a series of singles Blackpaw plans to release over the next year.

||| Stream: “Defenseless”