In the lead-up to their second studio album, roots-rock Americana band Stellar Jays have been gradually releasing singles off the record, signaling a new stage in their musical evolution.
The seven tracks available for your listening pleasure – out of Merit Badge’s eight tracks – are more distinctive and wide-ranging than any other work released since their 2022 formation in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Spanning genres and sonic palettes, it honors the diverse origins of the quintet’s five members while maintaining a through-line of great passion for the Seattle alt-rock and Americana scene. The album takes a nonlinear approach to different facets and turning points within the relationships that move us, and the final part of this puzzle is set for full release on November 6th.
The alt-country ballad “Oh Dakota” opens the record, offering a mid-tempo vibe featuring bright harmonica solos against a largely acoustic background. The singer is torn between his own pride, which prevents him from admitting his mistakes in a failed relationship, and the hope that his lover can move on before she misguidedly forgives him. A call-and-response builds throughout the song with each repetition of “Oh Dakota” into an outro made entirely of it, evocative of the helpless yearning for her.
The third track, “Trap Door Heart,” channels a southern-rock feel with the explosion of fingerstyle guitar into a full arrangement, led by the ascending steps of the vocal melody. The song experiments with silence, the instrumentation dropping out momentarily in between almost every section, and then lets it shine in the post-choral solos. Hoping his affection is returned but feeling trapped by his own desire, the singer claims, “you set a trap and caught me / but did you ever really want me? / set me free.”
The title-track, “Merit Badge,” opens with a marching percussive rhythm and prominent electric guitar. This indie rocker touches on the unmooring of a failing relationship, using the singer’s scattered navigation of a late-night city as a metaphor for its breakdown. Its conversational verses culminate with simple variations on pleas to come together again in the choruses, before the ultimate reveal of “I never gave you a reason to stay” in the penultimate loop.
Sultry but vulnerable, “Part Time Gig” crafts a captivating narrative around the fallout of a relationship using dual perspectives.
Rhythmic bass and melodic guitar accompany the rising tension of this story as each angle reorients the other, revealing how taking up impermanent residencies with other lovers to punish the one that matters the most ultimately cheapens it. The convergence of the male and female vocals on the song’s final line – “you chose to be my part-time lover” – confirms their agreement that they are doomed, but still divided on who is really to blame.
Following their debut 2023 album Early Winters, Merit Badge brings light to the emotional knots we do not always admit are there, explored through distinct but relevant viewpoints.
It’s a poignant and resonating project from start to finish, and Stellar Jays will be performing the album’s release show at the The Blue Moon in Seattle on said release day, November 6th.
