Kevin Bronson on January 31st, 2020

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In their music and their activism, L.A.’s Trapdoor Social have always been about more than just love songs and rock anthems. The band, originally formed by Skylar Funk and Merritt Graves while they were studying environmental sciences at Pomona College, take on big issues — not that their horn-infused indie-rock hasn’t had a penchant for making it all sound fun.

“Whispers,” out today, is the latest single from the band who last released a full-length in 2016. Since then, they’ve released a slew of singles (including 2018’s “Hold Me Down,” selected for the KROQ Locals Only compilation), staged three editions of the Sunstock Solar Festival and occasionally toured with their own solar generator.

Although Trapdoor’s signature horns take a break on this one, the new single is an urgent but starry-eyed indie-rocker that casts a disbelieving eye at corporate overlords (“I never thought they’d just sit there and laugh / counting their beans with blood on their hands” while cautiously welcoming some sort of justice (“Whispers of a new world coming / heart full of hope”).

The song, Funk says, “is a bit of a Trapdoor Social classic stylistically … the type of song Merritt and I have been putting together since our first writing sessions in 2011. Musings on philosophy, human nature, technology. Defiance in the face of dystopia. Moody rock, with a hopefully soulful melody.”

Trapdoor Social are hoping to release a new full-length, and “Whispers” will surely be a highlight.

||| Stream: “Whispers”

||| Also: Stream “The Fall”

||| Previously: “The Lie”