Kevin Bronson on June 27th, 2019

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Hank Fontaine’s songwriting wanderlust takes him no farther than the L.A. River-adjacent neighborhood of Frogtown on his latest single. “Zebulon,” named for Zebulon Café, the bar-nightclub nestled on Fletcher between the river and I-5, is a song from Fontaine’s forthcoming debut album “The Globalist Agenda or: Welcome to Frogtown.”

The album finds Fontaine, formerly one-half of the L.A. duo the Fontaines, shifting between pop-rock styles and see-sawing from wry commentary to sharp storytelling. “Zebulon” is a catchy slacker jam that falls into the latter category, a slice of life that was inspired by one of the many nights he played fly on the wall there.

“I love that place, not only as a spot to hang out but also for the people-watching,” he says. “One night I was in there and I met a guy who was clearly going through a sort of a midlife crisis of sorts, and was talking about how he had a kid in a resentful way. I was just thinking, man, the worst thing you can do is make a lifestyle change and then regret it. Just go with it, cause it’s too late to go back anyways.”

Dylan Gardner (Fontaine plays in his live band) contributes “wacky background guitar noises” on the track. The album, made with Street Joy’s Jason DeMayo, is out July 19.

“I haven’t yet asked anybody who works at Zebulon their opinion on the song, but I hope they like it,” Fontaine confides. “Or at least that I don’t get banned from the place.”

||| Stream: “Zebulon”

||| Also: Stream “Another Night in Kabul” and “Can’t Give It Up”

||| Live: Hank Fontaine celebrates his album release with a show July 20 at the Troubadour, joined by Cheridomingo, Josephy Luca and Serena Foster. Tickets.

||| Previously: “Bad Love”