Arkells aims for connection with latest album 'Laundry Pile,' Sunday's Metro show
In the 2017 foot-stomping, crowd-rousing anthem “Knocking at the Door,” alt-rock band Arkells ends one powerful verse with the lines “Standin' shoulder to shoulder/ As we walk across the finish line.”
Within the context of the song, it encapsulates the ethos of the Hamilton, Ontario, artists: We're not all the same, but we're on the same team, and we're powerful when we act as such.
Nearly two decades' worth of music shows the band is strongest when it revels in the extremes of the human experience — the flaws, the secrets that we keep, the anthemic rallying cries, but also the beauty in connection, shared adventures and the memories tucked in an old leather jacket.
It's that softer side that surfaces with “Laundry Pile,” the band's latest album released Sept. 21, a collection of songs that lingers in the quieter moments in a relationship.
“‘Laundry Pile' is definitely our most cohesive album. We kind of stay true to the mission statement, which is just keep it as raw and vulnerable as it possibly can,” said Arkells frontman Max Kerman. “And any time we had an inclination to build the song up or to bump up the tempo, we just said, no, the point of these songs is that they're very intimate. And anything that takes away from that feeling shouldn't be in it.”
With shades of breezy pop, Americana and piano-driven singer-songwriter chops, “Laundry Pile” is, at its core, a series of love songs.
“Each time we make an album, I want to go into it not knowing exactly what we're doing. I think the second you know what you're doing, things become a little predictable,” Kerman said. “For this record, we wanted to just make it a very personal, romantic record. So I think we're open to all different types of storytelling.”
When Arkells plays Chicago's Metro Sunday with its “At Your Service Tour,” the band aims to keep that theme intact, building a connection with the audience through interaction. One concertgoer will be selected to draw a T-shirt with a song title printed on it from a laundry basket, dictating the direction of the set. Another fan's message and song choice from the band's request line — find details at instagram.com/arkellsmusic or call (888) 426-8856 — will be shared and played at the show.
Kerman said fans have loved those moments, but they're also really significant for the band.
“It really grounds everything. It's easy to get kind of distracted in the day to day and just trying to move things along,” he said. “And then when you hear there's a person who has a real, meaningful connection with a song you wrote, that's a really grounding moment.”
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Arkells ‘At Your Service' tour with Robert Delong
When: 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8
Where: Metro, 3730 N. Clark St., Chicago, metrochicago.com
Tickets: $25