Along the Road (song)

"Along the Road'" is a single by independent recording pop duo Karmin, released on March 24, 2015. It is the lead single from their upcoming full-length studio album 'Leo Rising' set to be released on September 9, 2016.^[2] It is their fourth single release since their split from Epic Records. A music video accompanied the song with a release on the same date. It was written by band members Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan, as well as J. Gliteman, Elijah Blake, Hasham Hussein, Denarius Motes, and was produced by member Nick Noonan. The song features Jeff Gitelman on the guitar, one of Karmin's frequent collaborators.

Background

Prior to the release of the music video and release of the single for digital download the duo uploaded the single artwork to their social network accounts. According to Heidemann when talking to Billboard said; "The song was written three years ago" (2012). When talking about the recording and mixing of the single Heidemann also said: "The song has always been really near and dear to our hearts, but when we brought in this guitar player, who happens to have toured with Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys, he just started playing, I started singing and we basically did the thing in one take. I was like, 'Wow, when's the last time we did something in one take that we mixed, mastered and put out?'"

The song is the Libra track from Leo Rising.

Critical reception

Luiz Gonzalez from Album Confessions gave "Along the Road" a positive review saying that it "screams indie pop" and that "It's original. It's heartfelt. It's Karmin." He continued onto say that "lead singer Amy Heidemann croons on the soulful, mid-tempo single. It's a vocal performance that deserves and commands attention." Lastly Gonzalez complemented the music video for its lack of distracting choreography or other storylines.^[1] Heather Allen from Mind Equals Blown gave "Along the Road" a positive review and a rating of 7.5/10. stating "has something a little more special about it than the average pop slow song." She referenced "Neon Love" and "Tidal Wave" from their debut album Pulses when calling Along the Road 'special' and "not a regular mid tempo song."^[3]

Track listing

Personnel

Information based off the credits sections for 'Along The Road' from the Karmin App.

Music video

A music video, which presents both Amy and Nick performing the song with guitarist Jeff "Gitty" Gitelman after being introduced by a man in a blue suit portrayed by Steve Tirogene. The video premiered exclusively on Billboard on March 24, 2015, the same day it was released for digital download and streaming.^[4] The set of the music video was created by Karmin along with a small team of artists, talking to Billboard they said:We knew we were gonna shoot the video on a Wednesday, the Wednesday prior nothing was done yet. So we somehow got a thousand sample shoes from Creative Rec, which were amazing, it was perfect," Noonan explains. "Then we went to Home Depot on Sunday, got all this plywood and paint, painted all the plywood black, made framing and then started drilling them in." "And it started hailing, the paint was running everywhere," Heidemann said.^[5]

The video was shot in only one take. As to the set of the music video the shoe wall and chandelier used in the video were designed and handmade by an art team led by Karmin and director Stewart Yost. The shoes used were provided by Creative Recreation. The wall of shoes was donated to NYC's St. Mary's Hospital for Children. Whilst the full pairs of shoes from the video were donated to the homeless.^[4]

References