Coming This Friday: The Way It Works by The One Takers
Press Release for the upcoming new single from The One Takers + an early bird review from me | Release Date: February 16th, 2024.
Hi Pal,
As always, before we jump in, I’d like to welcome those who subscribed to the newsletter in the past couple of days. We’re riding the train to 300 subs and we should be there soon.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to listen to the upcoming single release by newcomers, The One Takers. If you’re open to pre-saving the tune, feel free to come back here.
Let’s get into it.
Who They Are
The One Takers is a roots-rock band from Colorado. They play a lively set of original music, with a blend of soulful melodies, soaring guitars, and catching lyrics. The band formed in 2021 and began playing shows and working on recordings.
The band released live versions of two of their songs in February of 2023, and their first studio single Sleeper (Wake Up) was officially released on March 17th of 2023 and was quickly followed up with That Ain't Love, featuring singer Austine Marie, in May. Their third single, The Way It Works is scheduled to be released on February 16th 2024. The band is currently in the recording phase for a full album.
Band Members (Recording)
Chris Mullen (vocals, acoustic guitar)
Jean Sandoval (electric guitar, bass)
Nick D-Errico (drums)
My Thoughts About The Song
My fascination with this band began when I came across their bio description on Spotify last year and I saw the term “roots rock”. As a relatively avid consumer of music who is a tad obsessive about genres, I was locked in because there is a distinct flavour to this style of music that is missing — or at least scarce — within the Christian music scene.
The two previous singles were good but none of them comes close to capturing those aforementioned flavours as vividly as this tune. Roots rock accentuates fundamental blues and country rock elements in structure to varying effects depending on the composition and general direction of the song. The Way It Works is an upbeat tune — when compared to the other singles — so some of these elements were allowed to shine.
It begins almost like a ska or rocksteady tune — genres that share stylistic expressions with roots music in general — with groovy rhythmic drums and guitar licks. This is followed by a chill section and an outro that feels more akin to pop-rock barring the ridiculously effective lead guitar solo towards the end that ties it all together nicely.
Thematically, it is a song that speaks about how we deal with the modern landscape of work life and seeks to ask questions about what it means to truly live a fulfilled life. Don’t take my word for it though, let’s hear from Chris himself.
About The Song: Chris Mullen
The Way It Works was written as a response to work pressures. We all need to find the right work-life balance in our lives. I have always had a strong work ethic, and a desire to be known for excellence in my work.
Today’s work environment tends to reward that type of ethic with the mantra, “Work hard, and you will succeed”. Jobs will ask you to give more and more, and while you may advance in your career, you will give up other aspects of your life to feed the beast of “career”. Family, friends, and other interests must always take a back seat to a career, until one day you wake up, and a career is all you have left.
The pursuit of purpose through a career will almost always lead you down a path that is littered with martyrs from your relationships. This song was me questioning this tendency. Ultimately, I will always choose family, even to the detriment of my career, and I would encourage everyone to ask the question, “What am I sacrificing to pursue this opportunity?”
To Wrap This Up…
Three singles are not nearly enough to conclude about the future of an artist, band or project. But I think I’ve been doing this long enough to recognize there is potential somewhere. The One Takers are on to something special here and there is no question about their talent. I’m looking forward to more interesting tunes in the weeks to come. Lastly, for the geek out there, here are some key song details.
Lyrics
I woke up this morning and I drove to work
Cursed this life for the way it works
Spending all my time working this old job
Just to get back to what I love
I made a couple dollars and I paid the bills
Always gets me thinking about the way it feels
To see you grow small in my rear-view
And it doesn’t make sense at all
It’s just the way it works
It’s just the way it works
Oh, look at your life, is it a life to live
Or is it work, sleep, and fighting with the kids
Sometimes it makes me think we should grab the boys
Leave it all and just skip town
If it’s the house that holds you back
Well then I’ll burn it down
If it’s the dog then I’ll drop her outside of town
If it’s the car then tonight I’ll roll it off a cliff
Oh,
Just the way it works
The way it works
If there’s a time for peace and a time for war
Then there’s a time for me to walk out the door
Stick my finger out the window as I drive away
Straight home to your pretty face
Pack up the bags and we’ll hit the road
We could be to the beach in a day or so
When you think about it, doesn’t make much sense
But it makes a lot of sense to me
I guess that what I’m saying is it’s such a crime
We spend our lives trying to make a dime
In the end, we just want more time with the ones we love
We never seem to question we just walk the line
In the end, maybe, it’s just a waste of time
I don’t want to spend my time building walls on sinking sand
Oh-oh, oh-oh
Oh-oh, the way it works
Oh-oh, just the way it works
Oh-oh, Oh-oh
Is this all there is?
Details
Music and Lyrics: Chris Mullen
Music: Jean Sandoval
Production and editing: Sound Of All Recordings
Mixed and Mastered: Mark Jay
Label: Independent
That’s it for today.
Catch you soon!
This song will be featured on my weekly releases post later this week and the streaming links will be available then. Again, if you want to pre-save the link, click here.
Connect with The One Takers:
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Feel free to leave a comment. Also, I am always open to hearing from you so feel free to send an email to me at
stismavo@gmail.com