Consistency is not exactly the most exciting word in music writing. It suggests a pattern of behavior—or at least results—which themselves suggest a kind of uniformity. For Angelo Fiaretti and his mates in Mighty, however, that sense of constancy has not resulted in some even-keeled reliability, but has more so revealed the group’s steadfast dedication to their craft. Even in his early, mostly solo work, Fiaretti showed himself to be a judicious songwriter, a patient sculptor willing to scrape away any yearnings for excess in order to maintain what was vital and necessary. Similarly, on last year’s self-titled debut, one of our favorite records of 2018, the band showed their ability to harness a tempestuous array of emotions—doubt, fear, anger, heartache—and bend them in service to a collection of lean, dark, thrilling songs.

So when I learned that Fiaretti had kindled a friendship with Andy Hull, and has been receiving some measure of creative guidance from the Manchester Orchestra bandleader, I wasn’t altogether surprised. Both artists have a tendency to work towards rousing yet emotionally conflicted canvases, and it wouldn’t be a shock if Hull saw in Fiaretti some reflection of his younger self if not some form of spiritual and creative kinship.

Indeed, listening to Mighty’s new single “David’s Park Bench” you can hear the group turning from the stormy rock and emo that drove large swaths of their LP towards the more heady and expansive territory Manchester Orchestra has been exploring since 2011’s Simple Math, and to which they may have discovered the apex on 2017’s majestic A Black Mile to the Surface. That’s not to say, however, that the song sounds like Manchester Orchestra (although there are some stylistic similarities), only that it embraces a similar spirit of seeking out new sounds without abandoning the foundations upon which the band was built.

Largely guitar driven, the song careens between the Cure’s starry-eyed goth-pop and the convulsive rock Mighty have been pursuing, in some form or another, since their inception. It’s not the group’s most anthemic cut (or even their most cathartic for that matter), but it may very well be their most striking and satisfying effort yet. Produced by Grouplove bassist Daniel Gleason, and engineered and mixed by TJ Elias at the duo’s new Atlanta studio Big Trouble Recording, the track treads just the right balance between polish and grit, but in the end it’s the song’s exhilarating hooks and its underlying animus that really drive things home.

“The initial inspiration for this song came from a conversation I had with Andy about the quality of water drainage for his back patio,” Fiaretti reveals. “Andy at the time had started hanging out with his neighbors more often. So that kind of built the first line of ‘Don’t hide from your neighbors / their drainage has gone flat,’ even though the song isn’t about Andy at all. I showed him the song after and I realized I was really just writing purely about my social anxiety and a lot of anger and resentment I hold towards certain people who speak negatively towards the things I do and love.

“I had written the bridge ‘Now you know you’re an inside joke revoked by the outside joke / It won’t be long before you’re dying just to leave,’ and I thought Andy would sound great singing such an anthemic ‘fuck you’ type climax,” he continues. “He’s been a great friend and mentor to me and it felt right to have him there. I feel like it’s a song for everyone who doesn’t feel accepted or comfortable where they are. The people who are boiling underneath but keep their shit together when it counts.”

Mighty will perform on Fri., Apr. 12 at the Masquerade alongside Blis., Tenth Row, and Pike Co. Doors will open at 7 p.m. Admission is $10. All ages.

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