American Aquarium, New Ways to Lose
20 years. 20 records. Over 4,000 shows. And somehow, American Aquarium are still finding new ways to surprise us. On New Ways to Lose, frontman Barham and his band of road warriors turn two decades of survival into a driving, deeply-felt rock & roll statement - one built on resilience, reinvention, and the hard-earned clarity that only comes with time.
"We've always been outsiders," says Barham, whose songwriting has steered the group through lineup changes, heartache, addiction, recovery, a global pandemic, and every other obstacle imaginable. Long before algorithms and viral breakthroughs spelled out success in the music industry, American Aquarium earned their place the old-school way: through relentless touring and a stubborn refusal to disappear, even when the odds suggested they should. New Ways to Lose turns that outsider status into armor.
Produced once again by multi-time Grammy winner Shooter Jennings, the album was recorded in Los Angeles over a 10-day session that captured the band at their most immediate and alive. Much of the record was tracked live, with Jennings encouraging spontaneity and instinct over perfection, while a round of overdubs offered the opportunity to add three-part harmonies and horn arrangements to the songs. The result is a muscular, cinematic record that embraces both sides of American Aquarium's identity: the bruised confessionals of a songwriter who's already spent decades sharpening his craft, and the full-throttle release of an anthemic, amplified rock & roll band. Hot-wired with the same electricity as their live show, New Ways to Lose nods to heartland heroes like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Neil Young while remaining unmistakably American Aquarium.
For Barham - who formed the band in 2006 in Raleigh, North Carolina - the album isn't just a snapshot on a band at its peak. It's a personal turning point, too. "All of mt records are yearbooks," he says. "Twenty years from now, I'll pull them off the shelf and remember exactly who I was when I wrote them." If earlier albums offered glimpses of a man in his 20s, making his way through a haze of uncertainty, heartache, and bad behavior, then New Ways to Lose finds Barham writing from a place of hard-won maturity. He's not just a songwriter anymore; he's a husband, father, and bandleader who's fully comfortable confronting the dark corners of the human experience. Across these ten songs, he tackles themes like the downfall of small-town American, the yearning for true connection, the socioeconomic wreckage of unconstitutional politics, and even the devastation of losing a beloved pet, making room for tenderness and gratitude amidst the sonic stomp of his band. "Twin Flames," written for his wife, stands as one of the most vulnerable love songs of his whole career, reflection of a full-grown man no longer afraid to say exactly what he means.
The album's title comes from legendary NC State Wolfpack announcer Gary Hahn, whose on-air quips - "and NC State finds a new way to lose today" - became metaphors for both sports fandom and the music business. "No matter what success you find, you're always looking up the ladder at what you don't have," say Barham, who's hand-carved a fiercely independent career outside the traditional machinery of the industry. Along the way, American Aquarium have earned an international audience, headlined bucket-list venues like the Ryman Auditorium and Red Rocks, and even launched their own festival, Road to Raleigh, all without a major label, mainstream radio support, or the kind of buzz-worthy hype reserved for music industry darlings. "It's about trying so hard to win at something," he adds, "but always finding a way to lose at it." But in true American Aquarium fashion, the phrase is delivered with a grin and a shrug rather than defeat. After all, this is a band that built their own table when nobody offered them a seat.
That spirit runs through every corner of New Ways to Lose. Released independently through Barham's own Losing Side Records, the album doubles down on the freedom that American Aquarium have spent two decades fighting for. They own their publishing. They answer to nobody. And while the industry continues chasing trends, American Aquarium are still doing things their own way - including dropping the album just one week after announcing it. "We take our hits and we get back up," Barham says, "and we do what we do. There are three things you can count on: death, taxes, and American Aquarium showing up to your town once a year to play a rock & roll show."
When it comes to New Ways to Lose, the band's rock & roll show looms large. Musically, the record distills the energy of those concerts into one of the band's most hifi, ear-candy-coated studio recordings yet. Towering choruses, piano-driven arrangements, hook-heavy riffs, E Street Band-worthy bras, and screaming guitars give songs like "Out There in the Dark," "Whatever Helps You Sleep at Night," and "Bad Habits" an expansive rock & roll scope. "Our live show is 90 minutes of us kicking your throat in," Barham adds. "We wanted to make a record that felt representative of that."
Still, beneath the heartland hooks and sweaty stomps lies the same emotional honesty that has always defined American Aquarium. Barham may no longer be the young road warrior chronicling breakups and burnouts from the front seat of a van, but he remains obsessed with documenting what life costs us - and what keeps us moving forward. New Ways to Lose is a record about loss, survival, maturity, and the strange beauty of getting up after life knocks the wind out of you.
Twenty years in, American Aquarium aren't chasing validation anymore. They've built something bigger: a career on their own terms, a loyal community, and a catalog that continues to evolve without compromise. New Ways to Lose doesn't sound like a band slowing down. It sounds like winning - like musicians who know exactly who they are.
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