“When the music plays, I was never alone.” So sings Greg Attonito, singer for the Bouncing Souls, towards the end of the new single, “Up To Us.” It’s a succinct description of the message contained in both the video and song, off the band’s latest album Simplicity, which is out today. The record is both a back-to-basics album of hard-charging punk and a deepening of the themes and topics the group’s music has addressed throughout its existence, of which “Up To Us” is an ideal distillation. Holding up photos of themselves through the years, the video mirrors the anthemic charge of the music, which roars with sing-along hooks while maintaining the knife-edge sharpness of the band’s sound. Attonito, speaking to The A.V. Club, explains it thusly:
The song “Up to Us” was inspired by the recent passing of some of our music heroes. In the video for the song we wanted to capture the simple but powerful act of listening to music and how it inspires us to create music. We also wanted to convey the sense of responsibility we feel to carry a torch for the spirit that all of this great music has given us.
You can order the band’s new record, and Bouncing Souls will be playing shows across Europe throughout the next few months—along with a couple of U.S. stops, too, including the Wrecking Ball Festival in Atlanta. The complete list of tour dates is available on the band’s website.