The Strumbellas know that misery loves company, and that if we’re together, even in dark times, there’s some joy in that. Their songs of suffering and celebration date back to their 2012 debut My Father And The Hunter, and the band have obsessively chased big hooks, group vocal exuberance, and folk-rock propulsion through their 2016 breakthrough Hope to 2024’s Part Time Believer. The Juno and iHeartRadio Music Award-winning group’s new song Hard Lines gives listeners an urgent, new take on their iconic mix of intimate feelings with stadium folk sounds.

Determined to use every tool in their arsenal to write a good song, The Strumbellas started by looking inward: random song titles, non-sequitur ideas, scraps of paper, and voice memos of half-sung melodies came from everyone in the band. They then connected with their favourite collaborators, songwriters and producers anywhere from their home in Toronto to Vancouver, Nashville, or LA, to create demos that ranged from campfire-chord whispers to radio-ready productions. The long list was then whittled down by the band along with producer Chad Copelin (LANY, Sasha Sloan, Colony House), who recorded the band at his studio in Norman, Oklahoma. Copelin’s finely honed sonic instincts bring out a newly textured, insistently edgy side to The Strumbellas’ alt-folk stomp.

“We’re living in a lonely world,” says keyboardist Dave Ritter. “Whether it’s work or our home life or our screens, life seems cut up into smaller and smaller pieces all disconnected from each other. Hard Lines is about picking your way through the rubble of contemporary life and the hope that we can build things together again. It’s something we’re reminded of when we gather to write or rehearse songs, and when we get to play for people, that music brings us together, gives us some moments of connection that are hard to find these days.”