‘Lie to Me’ is a bittersweet anthem about the painful reality of an unraveling long-distance relationship, yet both parties are too hesitant to confront the truth. Instead, the singer begs to keep the illusion alive, asking, “Lie to me, keep telling me it’ll work.” The song’s relatable theme captures the heartache of clinging to a fading connection but still holding onto the hope that it could somehow survive.

Written by the band and Chyee Howell, instrumentally, ‘Lie to Me’ delivers an infectious groove, inspired by Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered,’ but with a twist. Where Wonder’s classic exudes joy and resolution, ‘Lie to Me’ is a joyous ode to sweet denial. With its sparse yet danceable arrangement, the track opens with a descending fuzz-guitar riff, retro keys, and handclaps, giving The Jaws of Brooklyn lead singer Gretchen Lemon’s vocals room to soar. The verses feature playful staccato bursts, while the chorus locks into a deep groove, inviting listeners straight to the dance floor.

“We wanted the track to feel fun and liberating, even though it’s about a tough subject,” says Bryan Cohen (guitar). “The key was to keep it simple and let the power of the voices and melody shine.”

The song crescendos during the bridge with a chant-like refrain, “L.I.E. to me,” bolstered by the dynamic background vocals of Shanay Johnson and Karita Law, frequent collaborators with Brittany Howard. This vocal powerhouse pairing, who also appeared on The Jaws of Brooklyn’s earlier hit “Fever,” adds an R&B-meets-Fleetwood Mac vibe, making the song a standout in their catalog.

‘Lie to Me’ has already become a fan favorite at live shows, often prompting audiences to sing along and dance. “It’s instantly recognizable, and people always ask us about it after the set,” says Lemon.

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On the story behind the song, lead singer Brandi Thompson shares: “The spring of 2020, a second Civil Rights Movement overwhelmed the United states. I was as swept up in the movement as anyone, but I decided to write a song to not just stand against the brutality that was happening that spring, but to remind my listeners that this brutality and discrimination is not new; my ancestors survived similar brutality and discrimination – like that which we saw in 2020 and the many years prior – for centuries. I’m proud to be a product of the ancestors who survived generation after generation; their strength is my strength, and I wrote this song to honor them. As the saying goes, I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams. Theirs are the shoulders on which I stand and which have gotten me where I am today.”

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‘Sugar Sugar’ pays homage to the iconic basslines born out of the Alabama Shoals region, grabbing your attention from the first nickel-wound stanza. Paul Christofferson carries the melody with his super slinky licks as lead singer Lindsay Love’s soaring vocals are surrounded by crunchy guitars, layered organ, and icy keyboard bells. The single’s new-wave vintage sound is just one thread in the band’s catalogue of garage, soul, and pop all polished into an arrangement that stays true to their roots.

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Georgy, Jack, Sass and Ryan come together to encompass soulful fuzz rock with a serious and stylish attitude on their new EP Face the Rain.

We asked frontwoman Georgy to do an in depth track by track breakdown of the EP for us. Read it below.

Stories of Strange Women

‘Stories of Strange Women’ is for all the weirdos out there that second guess themselves. I grew up always taking solace in stories about unique people that stuck to their guns and didn’t change for anyone else. ‘Stories’ opens the EP up with me shouting about listening to your spirit and not getting in your head. We wanted ‘Stories’ to be uplifting, a bit dancey and something to stomp around to. Funnily enough the main chorus riff was inspired by comedian Tom Segura’s walk on song. Back in lockdown number one, Sass (bass), Ryan (drums) and I lived together in the North East and our guitarist Jack was still living in Manchester bless him. We’d send ideas back and forth and one day he sent the riff over – I’ve never seen Sass and Ryan move so fast into the little music room we had! It was instantly like “woooow, this is different for us but it really works”. It was really quite easy after that to put the song together and it’s so much fun to play live. Stand up and keep being weird and wonderful!

Magic at our Fingertips

The EP then follows on to ‘Magic at our Fingertips’ – about my frustrations with people not taking climate change seriously. With laid back verses and a Black Sabbath-esque chorus riff, I think ‘Magic’ leads you into a bit of a false sense of security in the verses and then just slaps you in the face in the choruses. I love how contrasting ‘Magic’ is – it really helps depict how huge corporations “green wash” their marketing and products, but yet they’re some of the biggest contributors to climate change with waste and single use products. Ryan & Sass’groove in the verses is infectious and when it moves into the middle 8, how tight they play together is just something special. Jack’s solo however – WOW. We were blown away when he first started playing with all the ideas he had for the solo. I love that it almost tells a story, it’s not just “shredding” and being technically amazing (which he is) it has so much FEEL to it. I can’t help but scream every time we play it live cos it’s so like whaaaat how you do that boy!!! Also, I never thought I’d be doing a spoken word section in a song, no seriously I really didn’t, but I think we were listening to too much Rush at that point and it sunk into my veins. Oops!

Blackmoss

‘Blackmoss’ is third and just fully punches you in the face and gives you no choice but to pay attention. We often play around with dynamics in verses vs choruses in songs but we wanted to be really loud and energetic throughout the song until it really calls for quiet and contrast in the middle 8. The lyrics for this song took me a little while to write, I know we’ve all struggled in so many different ways over the last few years and the instrumentation for ‘Blackmoss’ was the perfect bed for exploring the fine line between anger in what’s happening and also not adding to the shit pile that is the world at the moment. Everything is very heavy, I’ve heard so many people say the last few years they’ve experienced their highest highs and also lowest lows. To me, ‘Blackmoss’ really reflects that. I hate that everything is spun so negatively, and we are trained to look for the worst in people and situations. ‘Blackmoss’ is trying to work through the mud of confusion that everything is in and not get too bogged down with it, whilst also learning to be open to other people’s experiences. Listen out for the middle section – Sass’s ticking clock bass part mixed with Ryan’s rim clicking part is my faaaave thing and then Jack absolutely RIPS a solo over the ending riff.

Solace

The EP finishes with ‘Solace’. ‘Solace’ is a straight up love song but in more of a 70s Blues Rock fashion and it veeeeery contrasting to the previous song ‘Blackmoss’. This song is about only feeling truly at home when you’re with that other person – nothing ever feels complete without them. It’s that feeling of solace when they’re close by and you know everything will be okay. ‘Solace’ is a continuous builder of a song, it starts off quite soft and just grows with passion the more the song goes on – just as I think love grows. We’ve had several different versions of this song and for years we couldn’t find the perfect counterpart to the riff. It initially didn’t start off as a love song but after finding the perfect soft verse to go with the riff and the more space it had it just naturally fell into that place. There’s even a bit of flute on the track – make sure to listen out for it!

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