The Far Out – Laurel

Throughout pop music history, there have been love songs, songs that are definitely not love songs, and then songs that are casually deceptive in what truly exists between the surface, playfully toying with our emotions and interpretations of what we hear out of the speakers. And like any relationship on the rocks, sometimes we just hear what we wanna hear – and dance to keep from crying.

That sentiment colors the core of The Far Out’s vibrant new retro-soul single “Laurel,” the latest slice of high-energy funk-pop from the rising Boston sextet that hits the streams on Friday, May 30. “Laurel” is the follow-up to February’s supercharged single “Funkadelic Gas,” and both infectious tracks will be featured on the “New Act of the Year” recipient at the 2024 New England Music Awards’ forthcoming debut album, set for release this summer.

But “Laurel,” with its Yacht Rock cool, charismatic swagger, and alluring sax n’ brass sass, also throws it back to the golden era of ‘70s songwriting with clever lyrical wordplay and charming innuendo, juxtaposing the music’s optimistic and upbeat nature with a heartbreak situation just bubbling under the surface.    

“‘Laurel’ is deceptively not a love song,” says lead vocalist Olivia Lowe. “It’s about continuing to see someone romantically despite knowing that it’s going nowhere, because they will never commit to being fully or exclusively with you. The chorus ‘rest on my Laurel’ is a play on words, where it’s just easier to stay with this person rather than make the effort to leave them.”

Lowe paints an unfulfilled picture in the lyrics that is deliberately opposed to the overall vibe of the song, which feels like the perfect summer bop to add to all our beach-going and care-free day playlists. But that’s also the point – something that feels sunny and warm on the surface may not be what it seems after a deeper dive into what’s really going on. 

“I hope that when people hear it, they dance,” Lowe adds. “But I hope that when they listen more closely to the lyrics, they understand that it’s okay to get out once something stops being fun or isn’t right for them anymore. I was able to easily write this happy-sounding, confident song because I’m firmly on the other side of the exact situation it describes.”

And for Lowe, band life in The Far Out is a happy relationship as well – and that comes out in the effortless cool and creative chemistry displayed by the collective of close friends and multi-instrumentalists, rounded out on “Laurel” by core members Ellie Dolan (trumpet, backing vocals); Ryan Fremont-Smith (bass guitar, backing vocals); Drew Phillips (drums); Colin Senechal (tenor saxophone); and Henry Zagarella (keys, organ, backing vocals).

Adding to the dynamism and depth of the track, “Laurel” also features an extended cast of Gerry Dolan (trumpet); Andrew Fremont-Smith (trombone, backing vocals); and Jamie Fremont-Smith: (trumpet). It all adds up to a sonically engaging track that suggests The Far Out have a seat of Boston’s blossoming funk- and soul-pop scene, where bands like Ripe and Couch have recently gone on to national acclaim. It’s the sound of a band just getting started, and finding a delectable rhythm on the fly with each new track in the catalogue.

“I think Laurel epitomizes the ‘The Far Out sound’ – strong horns, vocal harmonies, etc. – so we wanted to share this with everyone as a way to tease all of the different sounds present throughout the album,” says Senechal. “For me specifically, this was the first song we wrote that made me say ‘wow’ out loud when we first tried playing it together. I was really proud to call this something that we wrote.” 

Penned by Lowe, Zagarella, and Phillips, “Laurel” flexes what The Far Out does best – it cranks up the energy and creates its own mood through sheer infectiousness and positive vibes. “Laurel” was recorded with Fremont-Smith as engineer at FS Studios, with drums and mixing engineered by Sean McLaughlin at 37′ Productions. The track was mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering with assistant mastering by engineer Costanza Tini.

Every certified jam begins with a beat, and Phillips first crafted one that drives “Laurel” in what he calls a happy accident — during a rehearsal where the cymbal stands went missing, and a band member was asked to hold up the hi-hat cymbals together next to the snare drum (“From there I came up with the drum beat you hear, which is the reason you will hear very minimal open hi-hat during the verses,” he says).

Zagarella came through with what he describes as “this staircase of a chord progression” on the organ, moving in groups of three and featuring all chords of the major scale, and quickly aligned it with Phillips’ bouncy beat. From there, Lowe , wanting to pen a track with a girl’s name as the title, suggested “Laurel,” and Zagarella “immediately came back with the hook for the chorus,” she says, adding: “I wrote the verses over the next couple days, the two of us worked out horn parts together, and we learned it with the group pretty immediately. It just felt so right for us.”

Things have been feeling right since The Far Out first formed a few years back during the pandemic, hitting the stage for the first time under the band’s moniker around 2021 and quickly reaching cruising altitude. It doesn’t hurt that all six members are as close friends off stage as on it. And as our lives get more stressful by the day, the band and its warm embrace of a sound is a tonic amongst its members to help stay sane. 

“Simply being able to play music with my best friends is the best part of being in The Far Out,” says Dolan. “Getting to riff off each other, learn music together, and spend time with one another while doing what we love most.” Adds Zagarella: “The feeling of being onstage and hearing one of my best friends do a great lick or riff and knowing that we got to this moment because we all made the effort to improve and to keep each other in our lives through it all.”

As for the listener? “I hope the listener gets drawn in by the allusions to ‘70s soul music,” Zagarella concludes. “Most importantly, I want them to dance.”

Even if it’s to keep from crying.

#thefarout