Today marks the premiere of The Greeting Committee’s emotionally revealing new single “Float Away” and its equally riveting animated video. Released via Harvest Records, the Kansas City-based alt-rock band’s latest offers an up-close and unguarded look at the way depression warps our self-image. Listen to “Float Away” here, and check out the video here.
Along with today’s release, the band has revealed the September 24 release date for their second studio album Dandelion. All singles and the full album were produced by Jennifer Decilveo (MARINA, FLETCHER, Bat for Lashes)and mixed by Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Tame Impala). Pre-order Dandelion here.
Anchored by a gorgeously airy vocal performance from frontwoman Addie Sartino, “Float Away” opens on a candid piece of confession: “Glad it’s raining so I don’t have to go outside and pretend I’m happy just to be alive.” With production from Jennifer Decilveo (MARINA, FLETCHER, Bat for Lashes), the track unfolds in fuzzed-out riffs, frenetic rhythms, and incandescent textures as Sartino documents her inner turmoil with an intense level of detail. “There’s a line in the chorus that says, ‘Stale rye, once an apple’s eye,’ which is a way of saying, ‘I used to have so much potential, and now I’m sitting here frozen, and I don’t know what to do with myself,’” she notes.
After slipping into a moment of anti-nostalgia (“Haven’t felt this since/Listening to the 1975 while getting high/In somebody’s basement party”), “Float Away” closes out with another bit of personal revelation: “Treading water’s getting harder/Don’t let me fall another martyr.” But despite its undeniable melancholy, “Float Away” embodies a strangely exhilarating energy thanks to the stormy urgency of The Greeting Committee’s sound and the pure catharsis of its uncompromising honesty.
Created by illustrator/animator Kezia Gabriella, the video for “Float Away” perfectly captures the track’s whirlwind of feeling. The beautifully offbeat and brightly colorful visual follows Sartino’s avatar through a series of gently articulated emotional states – isolation, disconnection, overwhelmed confusion – and ultimately finds her rediscovering a subtle yet powerful sense of hope.
“Float Away” follows The Greeting Committee’s recent single “Can I Leave Me Too?”, which premiered last month alongside its intimate and quietly captivating video. Hailed by Clash as a “a raw portrayal of post-break-up poignance, cloaked in indie pop reverb,” “Can I Leave Me Too?” arrived as the band’s first release since appearing in Netflix’s To All the Boys: Always and Forever and contributing three of their songs to the film’s soundtrack.
About The Greeting Committee
Comprised of Addie Sartino, Brandon Yangmi, Pierce Turcotte, and Austin Fraser, The Greeting Committee have fully embraced a spirit of purposeful sharing since their formation in 2014. Founded soon after Sartino and Yangmi got their start playing open-mic nights in Kansas City, the band self-released their debut EP It’s Not All That Bad in fall 2015. The EP’s lead single “Hands Down” quickly became a breakout hit, paving the way for The Greeting Committee’s signing to Harvest Records when they were all still in high school. After making their Harvest debut with the Meeting People Is Easy EP in 2017 and releasing their debut album This Is It in 2018, the band spent much of the next few years on the road, with sold-out headline shows in major markets such as Chicago, Austin, New York, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis. To date, they’ve toured with the likes of Bombay Bicycle Club, Tennis, Hippo Campus, and Rainbow Kitten Surprise and taken the stage at leading festivals like Lollapalooza and SXSW, in addition to delivering the I’m Afraid I’m Not Angry EP in late 2019 and appearing in Netflix’s To All the Boys: Always and Forever. The band’s second album Dandelion will be out on September 24 via Harvest Records.
