Chan Poling of the Suburbs knew he and his bandmates had to get the sequencing right on their new album, Hey Muse. "What we've learned over the years," Poling says, "is people listen to the first song and then they go, 'I like this record or not.' They just kind of thumb through it."

Fortunately, the Suburbs had plenty of good songs to choose from. For drummer Hugo Klaers, the choice was apparent. "The minute I heard [the song] 'Hey Muse' in the practice space, I just looked at Chan, I said, 'You got something there, I really think it should be first.'"

Having released the album on June 23, the Suburbs have just completed what Poling describes as "a whirlwind tour of middle America," playing shows in Milwaukee, Chicago, Kansas City and Des Moines. Back on home turf, the Suburbs stopped in The Current's studio for a session hosted by Mary Lucia.

Looking ahead, the Suburbs will play a combined Hey Muse record-release and 40th-anniversary show at First Avenue on Friday, Aug. 4. "We're really excited about playing First Avenue again," Poling says. "We're going to do 50 percent brand-new songs and 50 percent all the way back to 1977."

Use the audio player above to listen to the complete in-studio session, including the track "Lost You on the Dance Floor," which was up against "Hey Muse" as the possible first track on the new record.

Songs Performed

"Hey Muse"
"Lost You on the Dance Floor"
"When We Were Young"
All songs from the Suburbs' 2017 album, Hey Muse.

Hosted by Mary Lucia
Produced by Derrick Stevens
Engineered by Michael DeMark
Visuals by Nate Ryan
Web feature by Luke Taylor

Resources

The Suburbs - official site

Gallery

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