A spirited ray of sonic sunshine and self-destruction, Ducks Ltd.’s “Train Full of Gasoline” is a rollicking indie rock delight: One full of smile-inducing charm and emotional churn.
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Stream: “Train Full of Gasoline” – Ducks Ltd.
It’s the way reward relates to risk, or maybe it’s just restlessness, but whatever the beginning is, the ending feels the same…
Bright beats and buoyant melodies, jangling guitars and vibrant drums course through “Train Full of Gasoline.” It’s a rollicking indie rock delight – one full of smile-inducing charm and emotional churn; a spirited ray of sunshine ready to be a beacon for our days and a buoy for our nights.
On the surface, it doesn’t feel like Ducks Ltd. are reckoning with themselves – processing life’s harder moments and unpacking their own self-destructive tendencies. But sometimes it’s through the brightest, most unassuming songs that we find our deepest truths – and this is one dynamic, deep-diving locomotive. Toronto’s Ducks Ltd. hitch a ride into life’s depths on the anthemic “Train Full of Gasoline,” a sonically charged fever dream full of fire, raw passion, and infectious energy.
Nothing like a good upheaval of the self to get the blood pumping!
Here’s me thinking that this
might have been an all time low
But you’re right to point out that
I’ve always been a dumb ass
It’s the sort of situation
where the first one told
was the last to know
But at some point we’re all gonna learn
Me and you gotta do it the hard way
Released January 4, 2024 via Carpark Records / Royal Mountain Records, “Train Full of Gasoline” is a sprightly spark in more ways than one. The third single taken off Ducks Ltd.’s forthcoming sophomore album Harm’s Way (out February 9) highlights the Canadian indie rock band’s talents as passionate, thought-provoking lyricists and melody-makers. Following recent singles “Hollowed Out” and “The Main Thing,” “Train Full of Gasoline” is an unrelenting and untethered eruption: One that implores us to think critically about ourselves, our emotions, and our behaviors – especially the ones we’d rather ignore or leave unsaid.
“The song is about self-destructive patterns,” Ducks Ltd.’s frontman Tom McGreevy (who forms half of the band, together with Evan Lewis) tells Atwood Magazine. “How if you try to ignore or minimize issues in your life, they can manifest in places you don’t expect.”
This sentiment is borne out in the track’s cinematic, upbeat chorus – a moment of catharsis as the band hits a fever pitch:
There’s always
Another dagger hidden in the sleeve
Another bullet in the magazine
A way to get yourself set
up to roll back
down that same long track
set up to explode
like a train full of gasoline
“The jumping off point for this song was a friend telling me about the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster in Quebec,” McGreevy further explains. “A 73 car train full of crude oil was left unattended and rolled down a hill before derailing and exploding in a town. I read about it a bunch, and to my understanding it was a scenario where a bunch of small errors built up and compounded each other, with the result being a catastrophe out of proportion with any of the individual failures that precipitated it.”
Bonded by an emptiness
Shared sense of dull dead endedness
Our hands will find a knife to twist again
It’s the way reward relates to risk
Or maybe it’s just restlessness
but whatever the beginning is
the ending feels the same
There’s always another dagger hidden in the sleeve, another bullet in the magazine, a way to get yourself set up to roll back down that same long track…
We never know how things inside us will metastasize if left unchecked; how our pain may manifest itself in our actions, our behaviors toward those we love, and our fleeting decisions in everyday life. The point of “Train Full of Gasoline” is, in essence, to catch our runaway train before we derail and causes an accident.
Yes, we can (and very well may) spiral from time to time, but as long as we’re working on ourselves and doing all that we can do to heal and mend our broken parts, then maybe we’ll get to the next station safe and sound.
Harm’s Way is out February 9, 2024.
It’s always
Another dagger hidden in the sleeve
Another bullet in the magazine
A way to get yourself set up to roll back
down that same long track
set up to explode like a train full of gasoline
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Stream: “Train Full of Gasoline” – Ducks Ltd.
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© Colin Medley
© Colin Medley
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