After multiple years’ worth of fine adjustments, a musical duo hailing from Marcellus has finally released their debut single.
Consisting of friends Kate Ellen Dean and Steve Sopchak, the twosome known as Faster Horses put out the introductory track, called “Somebody’s Second,” a little after midnight on Friday, Dec. 17.
The song starts with the sprightly strumming of an acoustic guitar before a buildup that brings in slide playing reminiscent of The Flying Burrito Brothers’ “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow.
These instrumental touches are accompanied by close harmonies with guidance from a head-bobbing drumbeat and a sturdy bassline.
Upon inspection, the lyrics address the deterioration of a romantic relationship and a split illustrated by the proverbial “fork in the road,” a spot where the narrator stayed the course while the significant other decided to diverge from that route.
Further past that point, some infidelity is hinted at with mention of a broken promise to return a call and some deceitful intimacy on an Upstate New York rooftop.
This all culminates with the singer’s dismissal of apologies as she instead opts for a reason to leave the light on at night for her partner.
“I just wanna be more than somebody’s second in line,” croons Dean about a real-life breakup she described on the band’s official website, fasterhorses.band, as “muddy and difficult.”
At this stage, however, Dean said she sees the song as something of a time capsule containing memories of that upsetting but healed-from part of her life.
Faster Horses, it must be said, is not to be confused with the different, Texas-based musical outfit or the Michigan festival, but the appreciation for country music is shared by all three.
“Somebody’s Second” overall leaves behind a breadcrumb trail of the band’s folk and traditional American songwriting influences with a sound that recalls the sadness-tinged balladry of Bonnie Raitt and the semi-bygone country-pop sensibilities of Taylor Swift.
Work on the song and its forthcoming parent album began in 2014 when Dean and Sopchak drove up to Lake Champlain for a writing session, though the two had met while at Marcellus High School about a decade earlier.
In the time since, the lyrics, verse structure and melody of what later became “Somebody’s Second” has changed noticeably according to Dean, but the theme and the “backbone” has remained intact, she said.
The current Brooklyn resident also designed the single’s artwork herself.
She has separately played music locally with her family in The Dean Brothers Band and as a teenage member of punk rock act Jackson’s Kid Summer.
Sopchak, who is still stationed in Syracuse, has worked from his multi-studio recording facility to score the Netflix documentary series “Fearless” and contribute music to both Coca-Cola’s “1,000 Name Celebration” campaign and film trailers, including those for “Colossal,” “Early Man” and “X-Men: Dark Phoenix.”
The two-piece band’s first album, “Letting Go,” is expected to be released in 2022.
The song “Somebody’s Second” can now be streamed on Spotify and purchased on iTunes.
