photo credit: Tyler Jay Hanson
X Ambassadors have unveiled their new single “Follow The Sound of My Voice.” The track is the latest shared from the band’s highly anticipated new album, Townie, which will be released this Friday, April 5 via Virgin Music (pre-order/pre-save here). The album marks a compelling new chapter for the band as they return to their upstate New York roots and paint an intricate portrait of their hometown’s most mundane aspects and the community that molded them.
Of “Follow The Sound of My Voice,” lead vocalist, Sam Nelson Harris, shared via press release:
“I was terrified to write this song. When I first started thinking about Townie, I had an idea to write a song about every member of the band. Then I realized that I would have to write a song about my brother, Casey. My stomach instantly went into knots. It scared me so much — not only because distilling our entire relationship into a single song seemed so daunting, but also because I knew that I’d have to talk very candidly about a pretty big elephant in the room.
Casey is blind. He was born blind due to a genetic disorder called Senior-Løken syndrome. I’ve helped my brother navigate through the world my whole life. He uses a cane, but I’m often also guiding him by the shoulder. And when he doesn’t have his cane and my hands are full, he has to rely solely on the sound of my voice. Just a voice in the dark, reaching out.
Casey— being your brother has been the greatest gift I could’ve ever asked for. And for all the times I’ve used you to skip to the front of the line at the airport, I’ll love you forever.”
