Hard Road

Album: We Will Meet In A Hurricane (2022)
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Songfacts®:

  • In this cut from Bedouin Soundclash's sixth studio album, lead singer Jay Malinowski is determined to overcome the inevitable hardships in a relationship that money can't solve. "I've heard a lot of people who, under a waving flag of compassion, say that if they only were given enough money, they could solve all the problems in the world," he explained in a track-by-track commentary. "I've never seen money solve a problem. However, I have seen money make problems worse. Relationships solve problems - people reaching out to people, person to person. Grandiose theories of compassion serve the ego."
  • We Will Meet In A Hurricane is the band's sixth studio album and features a pair of boys on the cover that represent Malinowski and his bandmate Eon Sinclair. Malinowski explained how the image ties into the theme of the album:

    "The cover of this album depicts two young boys on the verge of becoming men, the moment where we begin to pick up masks and armor to help us navigate the battle through life. Some of us might even pick up an instrument or two and start a band.

    Whatever we reach for, one day we will be put under serious pressure. A storm will come and we will be swept up in a hurricane where the masks and the armor will fail, and the music will stop. We will stand naked without any props in front of those young people we once were. We will be confronted with our flaws, our fears, our hopes, our dreams, our failures, and sometimes more importantly, our successes. We will have to contend with them all, or turn around in denial. The greatest encounter we will ever face is not with the world, but with ourselves, and we will meet in a hurricane."
  • The album yielded the singles "Shine On" (feat. Marcia Richards of The Skints) and "Birds Of A Feather" (feat. Ashleigh Ball of Hey Ocean!).
  • Since their formation in 2001, Bedouin Soundclash has had a lot of labels hung on them: reggae-ska, folk-punk, indie-pop, alternative rock. When Malinowski told us they were going back to their roots on this album, Songfacts asked him to describe the band's musical style. He replied in the 2022 interview:

    "It's so tough, because I see the word 'reggae' all the time, and of course, we love reggae music. But it has such an impact on the entire landscape if you mention that with the band. There's a lot of meanings attached to that.

    I kind of consider us like folk/world/punk music. When I think of bands like Black Grape, obviously The Clash was a massive influence, but if I think of a band that we're even more like, it would be Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. That aspect of where he was more playing folk music, but it had a world/ambient vibe to it."

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