Back in 2018, Florida indie-emo vets Pohgoh returned with their first new album in 20 years (ad second ever), Secret Club, and now they're gearing up for another one, du und ich (German for "you and I"), due November 4 via Spartan Records (pre-order). Like the last album, they made this one with Jawbox's J. Robbins, and your first taste is "Weeds," which premieres in this post. It's a breezy, power pop-infused song, and the sweet melodies are offset by the serious subject matter. Singer Susie Ulrey explains:
After my Multiple sclerosis diagnosis one year into our marriage, [drummer] Keith [Ulrey] and I became an “us against the world” kind of couple. We’ve been in the weeds together since 2001, ducking every curveball MS throws at us. “Weeds” is about living with illness and loss and the uncertainty that the pandemic brought into all of our lives. It’s about how we were all locked down with our families with that strange combination of reconnection, tedium and the unknowns that we were faced with. It’s also about the people we love that are grieving, too, and how grief doesn’t ever really go away. You have to make space for it and carry it with you.
The ending reintroduced a part from a song I wrote in 1997 about my mom’s diagnosis of MS. We’re all singing together in an attempt to reassure ourselves that we can hold on.