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May 11, 2021 By Caleb Campbell

Next week St. Louis folk trio Cave States are sharing their upcoming EP Julie Says. After releasing their 2016 sophomore record True Life the band returned to the studio to pen new material, returning in 2020 with their new EP The End Is Around The Corner. The band have since put together another EP of “Wilco-esque Americana,” now evolving their sound with samples and found sounds alongside their acoustic instrumentation and intertwined harmonies. Today, the band debut the new video for the EP’s title track, premiering with Under the Radar.

“Julie Says” breaks somewhat from the band’s Americana mold, now delivering some of Cave States’ most sweeping instrumentation yet. The melodies feel like they’d fit perfectly with a Phil Spector girl group and the band offers a towering instrumental presence to match. Hand-claps, dramatic shots of percussion, rich harmonies, and a gorgeous instrumental outro lend the track a moving grandeur. Yet, while the instrumental palette evokes romanticism the lyrics instead do the opposite, tracing a crumbling relationship.

As band member Danny Kathriner says, “The song ‘Julie Says’ is the gist of an actual verbal exchange I had with a friend years ago – albeit modified (here) for the sake of fitting into a song. There are two people, equally stubborn – both sarcastic, proud, and unwilling to bend. A good relationship ultimately ended because of each party’s persistence. Of course, years later – it’s easier to evaluate. Considering falling out happened over a decade ago, it impacted me more than I realized at the time. No, her name is not actually Julie.”

The accompanying video matches this journey with its own stop-motion road trip. Kathriner continues, “The video attempts to exemplify how one is moving onward through life and time - the stop motion animation spelling out the lyrics, the pathways and roads are constantly moving forward. However, at the song’s coda ending the screen goes black – then everything becomes reflective, the footage reverses as if one is getting sucked back into the past. Layers and layers of images symbolizing how we all ruminate on memories.”

Check out the song and video below and watch for the Julie Says EP, out May 21st.