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Feb 11, 2022 By Caleb Campbell

Later this month, New Orleans-based band Anne Elise Hastings and Her Revolving Cast of Characters are set to share their sophomore LP, Unmasking a Confidence Trickster. Fronted by singer/songwriter Anne Elise Hastings, her current cast of characters also includes Isaac Worley on drums, Dustin Dietsche on guitar, and Tristan Clark on bass. Backed by her self-styled cast, Hastings crafts potent arrangements and soul-stirring storytelling, casting herself as an alluring alt-country troubadour.

The band first arrived in 2018 with their self-titled debut and on February 25th they’re back with their long-awaited follow-up. Prior to the release, the band have also shared a new single and video for one of the album’s highlights, “Jack Kerouac,” premiering with Under the Radar.

Rather than a reflection on the novelist himself, “Jack Kerouac” is a portrait of the type of man who really wants you to know that he has read the titular author. Hastings offers a caustic takedown of self-obsessed, controlling men, delivering each biting line with easygoing swaggering confidence一“Cause I’ve been working way too hard for some guy with shitty tattoos to tell me what to do / No I’m far too smart to let somebody like you go break my heart.” Meanwhile, Hastings’ cast of characters backs her up with stormy guitar soling, bursts of horns, and a winding country groove.

As Hastings explains, “This song is about the type of man who has nothing to offer, but continually gets away with treating his romantic partners poorly because of his unending supply of unearned confidence. It’s a call to stop pretending that we think his take on transcendentalist literature is original, and stand up for ourselves. We’ve been so much better than this kind of man all along.”

Check out the track and video below. Unmasking a Confidence Trickster is out everywhere February 25th.