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Nov 14, 2024 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Daniel Roland Tierney

Tomorrow, singer/songwriter Andrew Becker is back with his sixth full-length album under the moniker Human Potential, I Write Wedding Songs. Over the years Becker has moved in a variety of creative directions, previously as a filmmaker and drummer for Dischord Records band Medications and Brooklyn band Screens, and most recently as a solo artist. Becker released his 2020 album, I’m Glad You’re Alive, and followed last year with another new record, Hoosi, No! For his latest album, he paired with his friend and collaborator L. Skell, writing and recording the album together in Becker’s Los Angeles studio.

Earlier this year Becker shared a pair of singles from the record, “Clear Notes for a New National Anthem” and “Cut Worm Forgets the Plow.” Today, ahead of the album’s release, Becker is sharing a final single from the record, “Ruts,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Ruts” is a simmering and magnetic mood piece, knit together by a clattering percussive groove and rubbery bassline. Atop the ringing melodies, Becker delivers a yelping, expressive vocal performance and colors the track’s edges with atmospheric guitar work and echoing accents that sound like the ominous howl of a bomb dropping. Coupled with hints of synth glitter and the anxious and apocalyptic lyrical content, the track feels like it could be a forgottten, forward-thinking indie gem of the ‘80s. The results are shadowy and even at moments discordant, but entirely captivating.

Becker explains of the track, “This song started as a quick jam between my friend (and former Screens singer) Breck Brunson and I, which subsequently sat in stasis for a while. Then, one weekend last summer, I was dosed at a wake for a friend’s 17-year old Shetland pony, after which I quickly returned home. Between the roaring echoes of my grandmother’s one-eyed pet parrot, a half eaten ham sandwich that would not stop simpering and the unfettered, existential dread I had been feeling about various socio-geo-political crises that seemed to weigh on my particularly heavily that day, I managed to corral a song together that, to me, synthesized the disparate insanities that gripped me. In an unaltered state, I was able to fine tune the idea and bring it back down to Earth. Intended to be added to playlists for apocalypse parties. Enjoy!”

Check out the song below. I Write Wedding Songs is out tomorrow, November 15th, via Becker’s own What Delicate Recordings. Pre-order the record here.