The Districts

The Districts today released their shimmering, soaring new single “Do It Over” from their forthcoming fifth album Great American Painting, due out on February 4th, 2022,via Fat Possum. The track’s video, directed by Frank Apollonio, sees the trio immersed in the awe-inspiring natural beauty of Ashford, WA’s Mt. Rainier National Park and Gifford Pinchot National Forest, further underscoring the musical themes of Great American Painting—an album that sees The Districts creating their most lush and vibrant music to date. 

“‘Do It Over’ is about wising up and seeing the past through the lens of a more complete version of yourself. We've all made mistakes and some haunt us more than others. A lot of pain has been caused with good intentions,” explains singer/guitarist Rob Grote. “It’s also directed towards my younger self who wasn’t ready for the responsibility and attention of being in a band and speaking, singing and writing publicly, let alone simply navigating interpersonal relationships. It’s a simple song and a simple plea to right your wrongs and clarify your intentions and untangle the mess of relationships and do it the way you would now.” 

“Do It Over” follows the album’s first single “I Want To Feel It All,” which earned praise and support from Consequence, Brooklyn Vegan, Under the Radar, and more. 

The Districts today also added three new 2022 headline shows, including a hometown release show at Philadelphia’s Union Transfer on April 16th. The band wrapped up a headline tour of the eastern U.S. last week and will kick off a U.K. and European tour in January (a full itinerary is listed below). 

Great American Painting is the rare album that shines a bright light on all that’s wrong in the world but somehow still channels a galvanizing sense of hope. With equal parts nuanced observation and raw outpouring of feeling, The Districts confront a constellation of problems eroding the American ideal (gentrification, gun violence, the crushing weight of late capitalism), ornamenting every track with their explosive yet elegant breed of indie-rock/post-punk. Threading that commentary with intense self-reflection, Great American Painting ultimately fulfills a mission The Districts first embraced upon forming as teenagers in small-town Pennsylvania: an urge to create undeniably cathartic music that obliterates hopelessness and invites their audience along in dreaming up a far better future.  

Mostly made up of songs sketched by Grote during his time at the cabin, Great American Painting marks a significant departure from 2020’s acclaimed You Know I’m Not Going Anywhere. “The last album almost felt like a recording project of my own rather than a band affair, so from the start the goal was to focus on what’s always worked well with us: an element of simplicity that’s still very powerful, with a lot of visceral rock-and-roll energy to it,” says Grote. To that end, Great American Painting endlessly spotlights The Districts’ greatest assets—the sharply detailed and prismatic tones of guitarist Pat Cassidy, the complex yet combustible rhythms of drummer Braden Lawrence and former bassist Connor Jacobus, who has since amicably departed the band (Lawrence will switch to bass in the band’s live show)—while introducing a new subtlety into their sound. “We usually love to just keep making everything louder, but this time there was a lot more attention paid to carving out space within the songs to really showcase each instrument,” Grote points out.

In the making of Great American Painting, The Districts found their sense of connection exponentially intensified. “It just felt so nice to spend time with the people I care about, to have fun and try to make something good for the world,” Grote says. That feeling of kinship and solidarity is something the band hopes to extend with the album’s release. “The thing I value most in music is when an album expresses some sort of pain or frustration or hope that I also feel,” he explains. “I hope this album makes people feel like something within themselves is reflected in the wider world, and I hope that makes them feel less alone.”