Song of the Day: Chastity Belt - Time To Go Home

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Time To Go Home” by Seattle band Chastity Belt from their forthcoming album, Time to Go Home, on Hardly Art.

Chastity Belt - Time To Go Home (MP3)

Armed with a thick, hazy guitar sound and a sly sense of humor, Walla Walla's Chastity Belt has emerged as one of the Pacific Northwest's premier local gems. Formed in 2010 by Whitman College students Julia Shapiro and Lydia Lund, the band expanded to include drummer Gretchen Grimm and bassist Annie Truscott and immediately found local attention with the release of their demo, Fuck Chastity Belt. Backing up their sardonic aesthetic (their old publicity photo featured Shapiro wearing a steak-based chastity belt) was their live performances and, eventually, their debut album, 2013's No Regerts. Further touring only cemented their reputation, and in March, the quartet will release their second album, Time To Go Home.

Chastity Belt have long had a talent for imbuing their songs with an equal amount of sarcasm and empathy, and on "Time To Go Home", they use that skill to rally themselves around one of their best songs to date. Shapiro's cavernous vocals tell the tale of a night with endless potential that somehow underperforms. Shapiro and the band never sound gloomy though. Rather, the whole song is wrapped in their signature gauzy haze that splits the difference between eyeroll and starry-eyed. There's a million songs about the unexpectedly great nights out, so in "Time To Go Home", there's now an anthem about the ones that didn't go as well as planned, even if you still got pizza.

Chastity Belt will play LIVE on KEXP on Saturday, March 28, at 1PM, just before their record release show with Cool Ghouls and Dude York at the Highline on March 28th. After that, they head out on the road with another one of this week's SOTD artists, Courtney Barnett. Get tickets and more info on that aforementioned 21+ show here, and keep up with the band on their Facebook and Bandcamp pages. For now, watch the surreal video for "Time To Go Home":