Earthquake Lights Get Inside a Narcissist’s Head on New Single “Mr. Always-What-He-Had-To-Be”

• 4th album due early 2027
• 4:12 run time
• 1 guitar solo, improvised on the day
• 3 albums so far

New York band Earthquake Lights have shared “Mr. Always-What-He-Had-To-Be”, the latest taste of their fourth album, which is due in early 2027. The song is a character study of a self-described artist who is arrogant, self-important and sure he has life figured out, and the band say it was partly inspired by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Mr. Always-What-He-Had-To-BePlays from YouTube

It’s a slow starter, with a very laid-back first stretch, and it grows nicely from there. The vocals are good, too.

How It Came Together

The song started with a handful of chords the band almost threw away. Vocalist and pianist Myles Rodenhouse and collaborator Will Cavanaugh then built the character around them, and the band say they wanted to leave one uncomfortable question hanging, which is whether, somewhere under all the bluster, he might actually have a point. The title came from one of the song’s lyrics.

The band recorded the core of the track together at Douglass Recording in Brooklyn, with very little editing, and guitarist Justin Garcia improvised the solo on the day. Vocals, Rhodes and strings arranged by Mitchell McCarthy were added afterwards, and the band co-produced it with Phil Joly, formerly chief engineer at Electric Lady Studios.

Who Are Earthquake Lights?

According to the band, their third album, Signs of Life, reached the Top 30 on the Apple Music charts, and they’ve recorded strings at Abbey Road Studios. They’ve also worked with Grammy-winning vocalist Nicole Zuraitis and singer-songwriter Lindsey Lomis, and appeared on a Vulfpeck release.

It didn’t quite grab me, and I don’t think I’d come back to it on my own, but I could absolutely vibe with it playing under a scene in a film or TV show.

Stay unruly.