Stream: Hank May, ‘I’m Just a Lover Now’

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Hank May (Photo by Mario Luna)

Hank May heralds his new single “I’m Just a Lover Now” this way: “This song is a driving fast with the windows down car anthem that sounds like the 1975 meets Elliott Smith meets Weezer.”

Where are my car keys …?

The L.A.-based indie-rocker (fun fasts about him here) this week gave a heads-up that his sophomore album, “Tails,” would be out Oct. 6 via Dangerbird Records. May calls the album, conceived with collaborator Patrick Taylor, “a playlist more so than a narrative album” — a series of vignettes using the city of L.A. as a setting.

Of “I’m Just a Lover Now,” he adds: “I started playing a solo acoustic version at shows around the time my first album [2021’s “One More Taste of the Good Stuff”] came out, and it had a vibe like ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis. Then I switched to a solo electric version that sounded like ‘Jesse’s Girl’ by Rick Springfield meets ‘Answering Machine’ by The Replacements. Finally I had a eureka moment in my bed one night listening to the classic song ‘A Real Hero’ by College & Electric Youth from the movie ‘Drive’ and decided it needed a big synth bass. That brought it into the 21st century. Producer Jon Joseph, with the help of Levi Matulis on drums, helped me take it up a notch and reach its full potential.”

“The world outside can bleed all night and preach the golden rule / As it dies but can you hear me sing?” May asks on the single. Yep, sure can.

||| Stream: “I’m Just a Lover Now”

||| Live: Hank May does a September residency at the Hotel Café Second Stage: Sept. 5, Sept. 12 and Sept. 19.

||| Previously: “2019,” “Where I’m Calling From,” “NBC”