The Elwins Offer A Glimpse of Their Next Album With “Take Me All The Way”

It’s official: The Elwins have a new album in the works following 2017’s Beauty Community. Today the Newmarket indie rock four-piece offers a glimpse of the album with “Take Me All The Way,” which premieres below with an accompanying video.

“This song fits in that zone I love where it’s an upbeat sounding song with sad, introspective lyrics,” singer/bassist Francesco Figliomeni tells American Songwriter of the track. 

“Take Me All The Way” is a hard-hitting rock number driven by Matthew Sweeney’s commanding vocals. The song opens with Sweeney delivering a gritty first verse over potent power chords: “I’m looking like a lost and lonely creature / Trying to learn it all without a teacher / Will I find a way?” 

His voice soars in the chorus: “Can you take me all the way / I’ve got to get it today / I’ve got no place to stay / Can you take me all the way.” A short guitar solo comes in around 1:15, followed by a bridge that starts small before ratcheting up to a life-affirming reckoning. “I don’t wanna die, I wanna live / Live a little now, till she quits / I don’t wanna die, I wanna live,” Sweeney repeats before digging into the closing choruses.

“Take Me All The Way” is the Canadian band’s first release of 2020, following their last single “Some Things Last a Long Time.”

“[We’re] very excited for this to be the first taste of what people hear from the new album,” says Figliomeni. “I feel like this is one of the songs that helped us dial in where we wanted to head, vibe-wise.”

Speaking of vibes, the Canadian indie rockers have drawn from diverse influences in the past. Asked in a 2017 interview which decades have had the most influence on their music, the band highlighted the ‘60s and ‘70s.

“The outpour of solid songwriting that happened to fit into pop culture back then was incredible,” they said. “Focusing on lyric, melody and chord so heavily will often yield good last results.”

In another 2017 interview the band members shared some of their favorite artists at the time. Figliomeni cited Talking Heads; drummer Travis Stokl cited Louis Cole, The High Llamas, and John Southworth; Sweeney cited Dan Auerbach; and guitarist/keyboardist Feurd cited Weezer, Dawes, St. Vincent, Julia Michaels, and Queens of the Stone Age. If any of these artists can be heard in “Take Me All The Way Back,” it’s Auerbach, whose bluesy approach to garage rock, with The Black Keys, seems to be the model. 

The Elwins have also looked to other Canadian indie rock outfits for inspiration.

“I think Born Ruffians and Tokyo Police Club are two bands that we’ve always admired their songwriting,” Feurd has said. “[Our] sound isn’t so informed by them but they’re definitely the people who have influenced us and have been great friends of ours.”

“Take Me All The Way” is the first cut off The Elwins’ fourth album, which arrives this fall.

“It takes some time to make a record sometimes,” Feurd explained of the band’s last album, which was released about two years after their sophomore effort–2015’s Play for Keeps. “This one did take us a while and that’s something we’re always conscious of. Between our first one [2012’s And I Thank You] and second it was even longer. We’re trying to shorten it up, we’re already thinking ‘Okay we gotta tour on this record and have lots of fun but we have to start writing again–let’s start making our plans.’”

Figliomeni echoed that sentiment upon the release of Beauty Community: “It’s a funny balance where I feel like going into this one we were very conscious of not wanting to take too long but then in some ways we didn’t have a united front going into it. […] We’re really excited to start working on the next one now.”

Ironically, that next one would take even longer to craft than Beauty Community. But if “Take Me All The Way” is any indication, it will be worth the wait.

“Take Me All The Way” is out now.