Last year, I wrote a bit about the the country music duo Rogue + Jaye, and as you may recall, the act which is comprised of Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Courtney Jaye, who has spent stints living in Nashville, Atlanta, Austin and elsewhere; and Bay Area-based singer/songwriter Zach Rogue, the frontman of indie rock act Rogue Wave can trace its origins back to a December 2013 songwriting session in which the duo quickly recognized they had an easygoing simpatico centered around the fact that as songwriters, who were deeply influenced by country, their material possesses a wistful, late night, drinking and thinking in a divey honky tonk vibe, reflected on their critically applauded debut single together “Til It Fades.”
Pent Up, the duo’s full-length debut features a backing band consisting of Bands of Horses’Bill Reynolds (bass), Floating Action’s Seth Kauffman (guitar) and Grace Potter and The Nocturnals’ and Natalie Prass’ Michael Libramento (drums), and it was released last year to critical praise from a number of major media outlets including The Associated Press, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, American Songwriter and others, with Rolling Stone Country recently naming the duo one of their “10 New Artists You Need to Know,” and with the album single “Golden Lady,” the duo’s sound seemed to draw from indie rock, 70s AM Rock and Renegade Country, complete with an understated emotional honesty; the sort that comes from living a full and messy life of mistakes, foibles, joy, heartache, loneliness, being lost and found and lost again, and profoundly life altering experiences and experiencing them as completely and fully as possible — and with an effortless gracefulness.
“Open Your Mind,” Pent Up’s latest single finds the duo drawing from jazz, psych rock and psych country in an effortless and slickly produced fashion — and while sonically the song will further cement their reputation for anachronistic-leaning pop/country that could have been released in 1968, 1972, 1982 or 2012, and much like its predecessor, the song comes from the perspective of those who have lived full and messy lives — with dignity and quiet resolve; but as Jaye says, the song is “about opening up to intimacy and vulnerability without fear, as well as exploring the unknown in ourselves and through another.”
Directed by Ben Bennett, the recently released video for “Open Your Mind” is a gorgeously sun-dappled dream of two people trying to connect in an intimate and powerful fashion.