When we last checked in with Soda Road—a.k.a. the new project from former Sat. Nite Duets member Stephen Strupp—the band was in a mood. We described Soda Road’s debut album, Varsity Of Winter, as a “melancholy, stay-at-home-and-bundle-up kind of record.” It was written during the Polar Vortex of 2014 after all, and contained lines like “Take me away with a capital ‘A’ / I don’t wish to remain.” Fun stuff!
But now, Soda Road is feeling much better, thank you very much, if the peppy, impossibly catchy new single “Arms” is to be believed. Strupp, along with band members Graham Hunt and Sam Reitman and guest vocalists Elisabeth Gasparka and Sarah Luther from Warhola Cats, has crafted a near-perfect ear worm here. Eh, forget the “near” thing; this is a perfect ear worm, period. “Pick up your arms tonight / Not the ones for hugging tight / Talkin’ ’bout the other kind,” Strupp sings. Not since The Flaming Lips’ “Fight Test” has a tongue-in-cheek song about fighting been this fun.
Listen to “Arms” now, along with the “Brother Ron”-referencing “Station Wagon” and a re-recorded version of “Teach Yourself Zen.”