Released on February 23, ‘Stayed The Same’ is the first single from Eric Schroeder’s upcoming 5th album, ‘Turn On The Stereo’, which is set to drop on April 26.
A multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and pop-rock polymath from San Diego, Eric Schroeder has a musical style that’s rugged, passionate, and romantic, while all the while retaining a discipline that’d be enviable in an artist twice his age. He’s got a droll, drawl of a voice, with something about it that feels midway between Nick Cave and Elvis Costello. In fact, ‘Stayed The Same’, with its guitar, bass and waltz rhythm drums is so much like Costello it’s hard to believe it’s not a track rediscovered when doing an album deep dive.
‘Stayed The Same’ is lyrically dark, with Schroeder listing off all the things that irritate him in his life, and the blase realisation that a lot of those things are his own doing. He wishes everything could stay the same but he’s not prepared to make any changes or move on. At the same time, the music is upbeat and almost jolly – a nice contradiction. It seems it’s a reflection of Schroeder’s own life, there’s a cynicism about him that’s somehow quite welcoming.
Speaking about his songwriting Schroeder said,
“I grew up in an unstable household where I was basically left to my own devices,” Schroeder said. “I learned a lot about people and how cold the world is.”
While he seems sarcastic, this doesn’t get in the way of his craft, and given that ‘Stayed The Same’ (and ‘Turn On The Stereo’) were produced by Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Kurt Vile), we should certainly see him going places.
Listen to ‘Stayed The Same’ below, and let us know if you agree with us. You can find out more about Eric Schroeder and his music online on Spotify, YouTube, and Instagram.
