Artist: The Penske File
Album: Half Glow
Single: Chorus Girl
The Penske File has announced their newest album Half Glow, available for streaming on July 21st, 2023. The band has released an advance single from the album, titled “Chorus Girl,” available for streaming anywhere you get your music. A music video for the single is available on YouTube.
Half Glow is a culmination of over half a lifetime of musical collaboration between James Hall, Travis Miles, and Alexander Standen, the childhood friends that make up the band. The album consists of twelve tracks: Bad Dreams; Chorus Girl; We’re Both Still Alive; Under Streetlights; Ride It Out; Waiting for Rain; Will We Ever Know; Cyanide Stories; Wolves Gather; Hurricane Head; Modern World; and Lovers After Midnight.
Of the single, guitarist and vocalist, Travis Miles, explains, “The video for ‘Chorus Girl’ explores the interconnectivity of music and memory, and how the interplay between such forces holds the power to turn grief into celebration.”
Drummer and vocalist, Alexander Standen, goes on, “’Chorus Girl’ is a love song. I wrote it on the back bench of the van at the end of a long tour. For the first time in a long time, I was super psyched to return home. My, then, new partner and I had made a tradition of going up north to her family’s cottage after every tour for a week of refuge. Stocked in the place were a million CDs that we would crank up throughout our time together there. The song is about anticipation, it’s about love; it’s also about music and shared experience.”
“Chorus Girl” clocks in at 3 minutes 44 seconds. It’s an upbeat, power-pop anthem that will make you want to get up and dance. The track reminds me of bands like 5 Seconds of Summer, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and The All-American Rejects. “Chorus Girl” is a heartfelt love song with poetic lyrics: “And Chorus Girl, do you believe me when I say/That I never miss much of anything/And I don’t want to be your mystery/Or your hollow, cut-throat, organ thief/Don’t throw the rose in the river/Bare with me.”
The music video for the single features the band performing in what appears to be the home of the “chorus girl”, who is in the process of moving out. She drops a photo of her and one of the band members (who she was obviously in a relationship with) sees it and gets inspired to put on an album and dance. The video is so contagiously happy—I love it! Every member of The Penske File looks like they are having a blast doing what they love, and the video itself helps to tell the song’s beautiful story.
Overall, I really enjoyed “Chorus Girl”. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album! In the meantime, you can check out The Penske File on their website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.