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I’m excited to shed some spotlight on another deserving, long-standing trio that was formed in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1984, and they just released a new album. A band that shares its name with the bloodiest day in US history: a Civil War battle that has not been forgotten. Antietam, the indie rock band, has been active from 1984 to 1996 and from 2004 to the present. Original members: husband-and-wife duo Tara Key (guitarist and vocalist) and Tim Harris (bass guitarist); went through a couple of drummers before Josh Madell settled in 1990.
Antietam has had a prolific discography, releasing the following full-length studio albums: Antietam (1985), Music from Elba (1986), Burgoo (1990), Everywhere Outside (1991), Antietam Comes Alive! (1992), Rope-a-Dope (1994), Victory Park (2004), Opus Mixtum (2008), Tenth Life (2011), and Intimations of Immortality (2017) on the band’s own label, Motorific Sounds. The band started on legendary Homestead Records for their first two albums, then was on Triple X for the next three, then back to Homestead for one more, before joining Carrot Top Records for three albums. Antietam’s site has an excellent history of the band’s albums and their eras of creation if you’re looking to learn more. I advise checking it out.
The press release for the song notes that “The Finest Line” is “a reflective song about stepping away from the chaos of daily life to regain perspective and reconnect with what matters. As Tara Key puts it, the song is about finding ‘the finest line,’ a space between the worldly and ephemeral where she can ‘trust, to keep faith, have hope.’Â
The daily minutiae are running roughshod—hucksters for the mundane stealing focus, pulling their bait and switch. So you retreat to the beach, to the country: wherever you can have stare time.
On the horizon is a line. But it is a blur, it cannot be frozen. The home of the Fata Morgana, ghost ships, conjured land, the underworld portal. The division point between worldly and ephemeral.
So I stare: What’s important? What can I give instead of take? Note to self: reevaluate value. How did I get here and where am I going? And where exactly did they all go? I feel them all without form but I can hold them with my heart.
The finest line—the line that isn’t really a line—exists for me to remember how to trust, to keep faith, have hope. Now I can drop back in on the hamster wheel chaos and dodge that traffic, stand in that line and pay those bills, happy to be alive to do it.”
Here’s the cover art for The Counting Game:
The track list for The Counting Game:
- Way Too Well
- Spy Vs. Spy
- Dorado Gold
- The Finest Line
- Every Other Star
- Winter Watch
- Good Advice
- Coco Bella
- The Counting Game
- Coney Island
You can connect with and listen to more of Antietam at the following links:
- Website: antietamtheband.com
- Instagram (Tara Key): https://www.instagram.com/antietamnyc/
- Bandcamp: antietamnyc.bandcamp.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/Antietam-the-Band-100030982371170
Like discovering new music and/or this series? Here are more Singles Spotlights to check out.
Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site, scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions and SWT Interviews. And all of our socials.
Questions, feedback, or more? Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com
