Singer/songwriter (and Mtn Laurel Recording Co. founder) Elijah Wolf lets longing, regret, and unfinished departures breathe on “Texaco Lights,” a dusty, slow-burning indie rock gut-punch that finds meaning not in escape, but in reckoning with where we come from – capturing the push-and-pull of small-town America and the places that never fully let us go.

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Stream: “texaco lights” – Elijah Wolf

Every American Dream, cold sweats in the night, coming apart at the seams, you’re in the back of my mind…

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There’s a certain kind of light that only exists late at night in small towns – fluorescent, unmoving, and seemingly old as time.

At once imposing yet familiar, it’s a light that watches years pass, holding you in place while you start wondering who you might’ve been if you’d left when you first said you would. You stand beneath it on cracked pavement, surrounded by silence and tire marks, realizing how long that promise has been quietly renegotiated with yourself. That tension hums through “Texaco Lights,” a hypnotic, slow-churning gut-punch from Elijah Wolf that aches with longing, regret, and the quiet devastation of unfinished departures. Built on brooding guitars and a steady emotional churn, the song doesn’t rush toward catharsis so much as sit inside it, circling the same questions over and over until they start to bruise.

Released October 22, 2025 via Mtn Laurel Recording Co., “Texaco Lights” feels like a reckoning with hometown gravity – the kind that pulls even when you’ve gone. “Wanted a different life, born in a different town, under the Texaco lights, over the tire marked ground,” Wolf sings, immediately grounding the song in a landscape of asphalt, gas station glow, and restless dreaming. The Texaco lights themselves become a stand-in for everything that kept him tethered – a small-town beacon that illuminates both belonging and entrapment. There are no stars here, no cinematic escape routes – “not a star to be found” – only the stark truth of staying longer than you meant to.

“‘Texaco Lights’ is a song about growing up in a small town, and growing up wanting to get out so bad,” Wolf tells Atwood Magazine. “Thankfully, I really love where I grew up. It’s strange because during the pandemic, my town Phoenicia really became particularly crowded with folks moving in. I totally get it, and understand why people would want to move there, but I felt that there was this romanticizing of that area in particular, that really swept a lot of the truth under the rug. The Catskills are full of magic, but also hold an intense truth for a lot of people. Growing up in some of those towns was hard, and those stories make up this song, and the rest of the songs on my next record.”

wanted a different life
born in a different town
under the texaco lights
over the tire marked ground

i’m gonna leave you one day
if i ever get out
under the texaco lights
not a star to be found

That push-and-pull mirrors Wolf’s own path. Raised in Phoenicia, New York in the Catskill Mountains and now based in Ridgewood, Queens, Wolf has spent the last decade building a deeply intentional body of work – from On the Mtn Laurel Rd. to Forgiving Season – while also stepping back from his own releases to found Mtn Laurel Recording Co., an indie label (and Atwood favorite) rooted in community, care, and artist-first values. For two years, he poured his energy into lifting others up, putting his own music on pause until an unexpected call to open for Julian Lage reawakened something essential. Playing solo night after night, Wolf found himself chasing that original feeling of discovery again – the same feeling that led him back to a half-finished song waiting quietly on his laptop.

That song became “Texaco Lights.” Finished alongside Felix Walworth (Told Slant), the track carries the weight of hindsight without trying to tidy it up. “Every American dream / cold sweats in the night / coming apart at the seams,” Wolf sings, collapsing aspiration and anxiety into the same breath. The song doesn’t romanticize escape or condemn staying – instead, it lives in the uneasy middle, where people you love let you down, where leaving feels both necessary and impossible. “Now the song could be about anything,” Wolf reflects. “Self-doubt, future exploration, people letting you down. I put my true meaning into it, and now I want it to feel vague for me so it can feel specific for someone else.” “When I call you up and I come around / and you always let me down,” he admits, the line landing with the dull ache of a truth you’ve rehearsed too many times.

when i call you up and i come around
and you always let me down

“I’ve really been thinking a lot about the people I knew growing up in Phoenicia,” Wolf reflects. “Some really intense stuff. Playing in bands with my friends, we all just wanted to get out and see the world. I think we all really loved it there, and definitely still do. But there was this feeling any kid would get in a small town who’s curious about things outside of a mountain range. For me, discovering punk and hardcore was a window into what could be out there.”

every American dream
cold sweats in the night
coming apart at the seams
you’re in the back of my mind

it was clawing at me
under the texaco lights
thirty years in this place
i wanted a different life

Sonically, the song leans into that unrest. The guitars feel heated but restrained, nodding toward Midwest emo and ‘90s indie rock without slipping into nostalgia for its own sake (Wolf credits bands like Modest Mouse and Built to Spill as influences). There’s a churn beneath everything – a sense that the song is constantly circling the same emotional block, unable or unwilling to break free. That repetition becomes the point: This is what it sounds like when a place keeps its hooks in you, even after you’ve built a life elsewhere.

What makes “Texaco Lights” linger is its refusal to resolve.

Wolf has said the song is intentionally vague now – specific enough to hold his truth, open enough to let someone else find theirs inside it. That openness is its quiet power. It’s a song about self-doubt, about futures imagined and deferred, about the complicated love we carry for where we come from. And when it ends, it doesn’t offer closure – just the lingering glow of those lights, still burning, still calling, still impossible to forget.

“I hope it feels good for people,” Wolf says simply. “I hope there’s something in there that speaks true.” In that way, “Texaco Lights” feels less like a return and more like an honest pause – a moment of standing still and admitting how much of us remains shaped by the places that raised us. It aches, it churns, it hits hard – and long after it fades, it leaves a mark exactly where it should.

Elijah Wolf recently sat down with Atwood Magazine to talk about the stories, places, and lived experience behind “Texaco Lights” – and how stepping away ultimately led him back to his artistry and this song. Read our conversation below, and spend some time in a small American town, under those Texaco lights.

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:: stream/purchase texaco lights here ::

:: connect with Elijah Wolf here ::

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Stream: “texaco lights” – Elijah Wolf

A CONVERSATION WITH ELIJAH WOLF

Elijah Wolf: Hey Mitch! Thanks for having me here. For those just discovering my music, hey! My name is Elijah, I’m from a town called Phoenicia, in the Catskill Mountains of New York, and now live in Ridgewood, Queens. I spent the last ten years focused heavily on my solo project, with my first record called On the Mtn Laurel Rd., then I made a record called Brighter Lighting which was produced by Sam Cohen and featured Nels Cline and Photay. I made another record with Sam called Forgiving Season, and then I started a record label called Mtn Laurel Recording Co.

I was feeling ready to take a break on touring / recording and wanted to focus on the deep community around me. I quickly discovered my absolute love for music discovery, artist development, and release strategy. It brought me back to my DIY roots of playing in hardcore bands growing up. The label quickly grew into what is now a label and artist management company, working with Secretly Distribution. On the label side we’ve put out records from Colin Miller, h. pruz, Dead Gowns, and so much more. On the label side, I manage artists Wild Pink, Sister., h. pruz, and Hiding Places. To know my music now is to discover the incredible community around that makes up Mtn Laurel. Welcome!

Elijah Wolf: Thanks Mitch! Big highlight on my side too. Yeah! Continuing on from my last response, there is a real emphasis on community, and how we can all work together to bring more people into our world. I feel so lucky in that I get to listen to so much music now, in so many different genres. In terms of what I look for in an artist I partner up with varies quite a bit! I like to find folks who really believe in their art, and who are ready to tour and play music as much as possible.

Elijah Wolf: It feels so great to now get to make music with a new attitude. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself in the past. Music stopped becoming fun for me, and I found myself making decisions that would just hopefully make the project do well and not neccesarily because it was genuine or fun. Stepping away to focus on something else has allowed me to return to making music for nothing but the love of making music. I’ve rediscovered my love and obsession for writing and recording. I made this song (and record, to be announced soon!!) with my dear friend Felix Walworth of Told Slant. We made it in their studio, on my laptop and their gear. We went back and forth playing the instruments, and it really felt like a true return to form for me, of making music in my bedroom. I felt as if I was discovering how to record music for the first time again. And extremely exciting and positive feeling!

Elijah Wolf: “Texaco Lights” is a song about growing up in a small town, and growing up wanting to get out so bad. Thankfully, I really love where I grew up. It’s strange because during the pandemic my town Phoenicia really became particularly crowded with folks moving in. I totally get it, and understand why people would want to move there. But I felt that there was this romanticizing of that area in particular, that really swept a lot of the truth under the rug. The Catskills are full of magic, but also hold an intense truth for a lot of people. Growing up in some of those towns was hard, and those stories make up this song, and the rest of the songs on my next record.

Elijah Wolf: I guess I sorta jumped in too fast with my last response, but yeah, I’ve really been thinking a lot about the people I knew growing up in Phoenicia. Some really intense stuff. Playing in bands with my friends, we all just wanted to get out and see the world. I think we all really loved it there, and definitely still do. But there was feeling any kid would get in a small town who’s curious about things outside of a mountain range. For me, discovering punk and hardcore was a window into what could be out there.

There was feeling any kid would get in a small town who’s curious about things outside of a mountain range. For me, discovering punk and hardcore was a window into what could be out there.

* * *

Elijah Wolf: I guess a bit! It felt nice to think about folks and moments from my life that I’ve forgotten about (or have put in the past!) Nice to write about it through music.

Elijah Wolf: Totally! I actually started recording this song years ago, on my laptop. I really love Midwest Emo, and 90’s guitar music, like Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. I was listening to a lot of that when I started the song. We weren’t meant to record this one… I was looking for another session on my hard drive, and opened this by accident. I laughed and said “ok let’s see what this will be” thinking it would be and embarrassing and funny half song from my past. Instead Felix and I both were really energized by the guitar riffs / structure. Felix recorded real drums underneath, and then we wrote the melody and lyrics together. It definitely feels like a nod to the music I listened to mostly growing up, during the time of this song.

Elijah Wolf: Now the song could be about anything. Self doubt, future exploration, people letting you down, etc… I put my true meaning into it, and now I want to it be vague for me so that it can feel specific for someone else.

Elijah Wolf: I hope it feels good for them! I hope there’s something in there that speaks true, or it’s just a fun quick song to listen to. Or if you hate it, at least it’s a short song! No expectations anymore, just releasing music for the sake of creating!

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:: stream/purchase texaco lights here ::

:: connect with Elijah Wolf here ::

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Stream: “texaco lights” – Elijah Wolf

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