Jessica Shalvoy on August 23rd, 2017

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Noah Gundersen is trading in his signature acoustic folk for something a little louder on his first single, “The Sound,” off his third studio LP, “White Noise,” out Sept. 22 via Cooking Vinyl. After an onstage moment of “overwhelming emptiness” early last year, a friend shared a quote with the Seattle native by choreographer Martha Graham: “No artist is ever pleased … There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction; a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” This caused an epiphany of sorts that resulted in the 13 tracks that make up ‘White Noise.’

Gundersen’s departure from folk-rooted jams leads to a brash sense of irreverence on “The Sound.” “Nothing ever comes, ever comes if you call it / Choking like a dog, like a dog on a collar,” he screams in the explosive chorus. The new anthemic direction of his songwriting is matched by the music video directed by Christopher Harrell. Gundersen typically prefers to opt-out of appearing in his music videos, but this one features him front and center amidst a dynamic of calm and chaos. Who knew an inspirational quote could spark all of this? Maybe we should have paid more attention to those posters on the walls in detention.

||| Watch: The video for “The Sound”

||| Also: Stream “Bad Desire”

||| Live: Noah Gundersen plays the El Rey Theatre on Nov. 8.

||| Previously: “Ledges”