A gentle apocalypse anthem wrapped in human warmth, “put down your weapons” reframes end-times dread as an invitation to choose presence, care, and connection – turning fear into a quiet, life-affirming plea to live deliberately while we still can.

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Stream: “put down your weapons” – Sly Jr.

If time is running out, I truly believe I’m spending every minute the right way lately. That’s a very different perspective than I’ve had most of my life, and it’s one I’m super grateful for.

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“Come on lay down your weapons, it’s coming any second.”

Sly Jr.’s “put down your weapons” doesn’t ease in; it pulls you straight into a moment of quiet panic and tenderness, where the end of the world feels close enough to touch and the only instinct left is to reach for someone you love. It’s apocalyptic on its face, yet strikingly gentle in its delivery as Landon Jacobs turns dread into urgency, and urgency into care.

Come on lay down your weapons
It’s coming any second
The world is over isn’t it?
I say it far too often
This life’s a precious coffin
Or it all happens in my head

We’re running out of
oxygen so give it
7 minutes
Say you love someone
We’re looking at the
silhouette it’s making
7 days left
Find and hug someone

Released as a standalone single in February 2025, “put down your weapons” is the kind of song that sneaks into your day and then refuses to let go. Even as it spirals through extinction and countdowns, the track keeps its focus on connection: “We’re running out of oxygen, so give it 7 minutes, say you love someone.” That countdown could feel theatrical in the wrong hands, but Landon Jacobs – best known as the frontman for indie juggernauts (and longtime Atwood favorites) Sir Sly, and now the mastermind behind the cleverly titled Sly Jr. – delivers these words like a quiet plea; not performative despair, but a sincere attempt to re-center the heart when the world feels too loud. The stakes are impossibly high, but the response is intimate and human. He grounds big, existential fear in small, meaningful acts – a hug, a confession, a moment not wasted.

That balance between fear and tenderness is what gives the song its weight.

“put down your weapons” isn’t interested in spectacle or collapse; it’s about choosing presence over paralysis, softness over surrender.

As Jacobs explains, “This isn’t the first time I’ve written a song about the end of the world, and it surely won’t be the last. It’s probably the most positive spin I’ve ever had on the subject though. If time is running out, I truly believe I’m spending every minute the right way lately. That’s a very different perspective than I’ve had most of my life, and it’s one I’m super grateful for.”

There’s a clarity in that point of view – not denial, not escapism, but an insistence on living deliberately, even when everything feels uncertain.

Stale bread and dirty water
The days are getting hotter
I wrote a letter in the sand
For anybody after
They’ll know we shared some laughter
Here in the shadow of the end

What makes “put down your weapons” feel so essential – especially in the current climate – is its refusal to wallow, choosing tenderness and hope where panic might otherwise take over.

There’s a maturity in Jacobs’ shift – not denial, not escapism, but a conscious decision to live toward something. In his release-day note, he pushes that idea even further: “Released another song about the end of the world, but this time it’s about spending the time left in a way that matters… I only feel a sense of urgency to live a life that I’m proud of alongside people who make each moment more special.”

We’re running out of
oxygen so give it
7 minutes
Say you love someone
We’re looking at the
silhouette it’s making
7 days left
Find and hug someone

And maybe that’s why the chorus lands the way it does: Not as a hook, but as a moral. “Say you love someone. Find and hug someone.” In a world trained to clench, “put down your weapons” dares to soften – and in doing so, it becomes its own quiet act of resistance. We’ve written about Jacobs’ Sly Jr. era before – the way marriage, fatherhood, sobriety, and perspective have reshaped his songwriting into something steadier, warmer, and more grateful – and this track feels like that evolution distilled. It doesn’t erase the fear; it simply refuses to let fear be the final word.

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Stream: “put down your weapons” – Sly Jr.

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