A Track-by-Track Commentary for Superheaven's New Album

Today (May 4), Pennsylvania’s Superheaven are celebrating the release of their sophomore full-length, Ours Is Chrome. Diffuser is ecstatic to team up with co-vocalists Taylor Madison and Jake Clarke for a track-by-track commentary of the entire record. Below, check out the stories behind the songs, and then stream Ours Is Chrome in its entirety.

"I've Been Bored"

I wrote this song about bands that do things for the wrong reasons. I see plenty of bands, all over the world, just doing the exact same thing other current bands are doing. It’s one thing to be inspired by something another band is doing, but it’s another to just rip them off completely. -- Taylor Madison

"Next to Nothing"

I didn’t like this song when we first wrote it and I don’t even think I liked this song while we were recording the music for it. But after I wrote lyrics and wrote a melody, it started to come together. "Next to Nothing" was one of those songs that was probably our least favorite song going into the studio and became one of my favorite tracks after we were done. -- Jake Clarke

"Room"

This song is particularly special to me. It’s about my family being evicted from our home last year. We had a really sketchy landlord who didn’t do anything he was supposed to do. While we were trying to find a new place to live and resolve the situation, I was getting ready to go on tour in Europe. I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. I wanted to cancel the tour, but I knew it wouldn’t have made any difference if I was home or away. It was one of the most stressful times of my life. While I was in Europe, all I could think about was my mom and my sisters dealing with the whole thing in my absence. My youngest sister also went back to jail during this time, and she’s still there. -- Taylor Madison

"All the Pain"

"All the Pain" is actually two songs we combined into one. Zack [Robbins] and Joe [Kane] both wrote two songs that were in similar keys and we really liked certain parts from both, so we took a verse and a bridge from Zack’s song and a chorus and intro from Joe’s and worked out a few transitions and we had a song. -- Jake Clarke

"Leach"

"Leach" is the first song Tay and I have sung on together in a while. This is probably my favorite track on the record. -- Jake Clarke

"Downswing"

"Downswing" barely made the record. I came up with the verse but could never come up with a good enough pre-chorus and chorus. We recorded all the music and it came time to record the vocals and I still didn’t have anything, I was ready to throw it away but Will [Yip, producer] thought it had potential. We were running out of time so I was in the other room writing lyrics while Taylor and Will were laying down ideas in the other room. When I came back after I finished writing lyrics they showed me what they had and it rocked. It became such a strong song. -- Jake Clarke

"Blur"

This song means a lot to me. This was the first song on the record that I demoed vocals to. When we first recorded our demo that later became "Sinking," I was 17 years old. I’m about to be 24 now, and it just seems like those past seven years happened so fast. I never thought this band would play more than a handful of shows let alone go on tour. It’s been such a cool experience, and I never thought I would get a chance to do anything like this. This song is about where I was and where I am now and how fast time has gone. -- Jake Clarke

"Dig Into Me"

I had a verse and a pre-chorus when I wrote this song but I could never come up with a chorus to this song that I liked. Me and Will sat in the control room listening to the playback just coming up with different vocal melodies and then he sang this one and it just stuck. -- Jake Clarke

"Gushin' Blood"

This song is kind of hard to explain. Basically, my sister is addicted to heroin. She has been for a few years. It’s miserable and difficult. Because of this addiction, she’s been known to associate with a lot of terrible people who just enable her and make matters worse. This song is about a fantasy of getting all of those people in a room, and basically torturing them, cutting up their bodies, and burying them in the woods. -- Taylor Madison

"From the Chest Down"

I wrote the lyrics to this song about 25 different times before settling on the ones that actually ended up on the song. Even now, I feel like I could have expressed my feelings better. The song is about my younger brother getting in a motorcycle accident almost two years ago, that left him paralyzed. It’s an extremely personal song to me. -- Taylor Madison

"Poor Aileen"

This song is about a female serial killer named Aileen Wuornos. There have been movies and documentaries about her. I’ve read a lot about Aileen Wuornos, and everything I’ve read about her life makes me feel bad for her more than anything. She lived a really horrific life and was treated terribly until she was executed. I don’t mean to say that I condone her actions when it comes to the murders, but I also feel like when a person is subjected to that kind of abuse and torture their entire life, it’s really no surprise that they would end up in a some kind of scenario like that. I guess what I’m trying to say is that not all people that do bad things are bad people. I think the traumas we face in our lives effect our abilities to express our emotions, and control our actions. -- Taylor Madison

Superheaven's Ours Is Chrome is available now via SideOneDummy Records. You can get your hands on the CD, digital, cassette and vinyl editions of the album here.