Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and musician Steve Five took his name from a poem by French wartime poet René Char, while working at Strand Bookstore. He also had weekly meetings over coffee with Television‘s Tom Verlaine. Five started The Library is on Fire back in 2007, and the band quickly established a sound that combined the melodies of Guided by Voices and the wall of sound guitar riffage of Dinosaur, Jr. and others.
The Library is on Fire quickly became a NYC scene mainstay and developed a reputation for playing chaotic live shows at Glasslands and Death by Audio. After several releases including 2010’s Magic Windows, Magic Nights, the band went on hiatus on 2014 with members going on to play in a number of other notable projects including Oberhofer, Public Access TV and more.
Released earlier this year, “Back Pocket” is the first single from the Brooklyn-based outfit in over nine years. Built around distortion-pedaled power chords, thunderous and propulsive drumming, dreamy melodies and enormous hooks and choruses, “Back Pocket” is a sludgy, shoegazer-like ripper that brings A Place to Bury Strangers and others to mind.
