King Park - “Stuck In The Middle”

Last I heard you were gonna grow your hair out You said “it’s been a while” and you thought I’d like it long I must say I’m partial to the colour But darling, there’s a few things you got wrong Maybe you’re right and we could never work this out God damn it don’t you wish we really tried? With all your talk of leaping off together You couldn’t get yourself to even close your eyes And now you’re stuck in the middle of me Can’t seem to figure this one Stuck in the middle of me Lately I’ve been waking up too early This morning was another two or three It’s not enough to fill my daytime hours This head makes sure that you won’t ever leave And now you’re stuck in the middle of me Can’t seem to figure this one Stuck in the middle of me You’ve got your vices and I’ve got mine Such a simple excuse for how she watched me die You’ll find another, just give it time But will she love you the way that makes you feel Will she love you the way that makes you feel alive Remind me how I never was your lover Just another one to fill the space between It’s hard to feel like I was just a number But it’s harder to believe you still love me And that I’m stuck in the middle of you You can’t seem to figure this one out I’m stuck in the middle of you

King Park has been turning out mercurial, high-contrast indie rock since they released their 2017 breakout track, “Stay.” Gritty and lush, the quartet’s sound mirrors the antitheses of their hometown, Hamilton, Ontario: on the one hand, blue-collar and raw, and, on the other, artful and lovely.

Following their self-released debut EP, The Light I Can’t See, King Park won the 97.7 HTZ-FM’s Rock Search 2018 contest, which helped launch other Canadian rock groups like Finger Eleven, the Trews, and Glorious Sons. The basement-to-ceiling intensity of their live show has since continued to earn them a growing and devoted following across southern Ontario.

At the heart of the group you’ll find childhood friends and musical co-conspirators Timon Moolman (vocals, guitar) and Tyler Heemskerk (bass, vocals), rounded out more recently by guitarist Brenden Campbell and the animated Nate Wall on drums.

Sneak peeks of their upcoming 2020 full-length, Everett, show the quartet exploiting its strengths. Guitars chime, drums thwack, and Moolman’s broken-up baritone—which often veers into shouted speak-sing—is ornamented one minute by barber shop harmonies, and the next by barstool gang vocals. Songs like “This is the End,” “Stuck in the Middle,” and the title track set up camp in that familiar moment after life has fallen apart, and before a way forward seems possible. King Park’s Everett promises a collection of elegies for ordinary, apocalyptic losses.