The brothers Thornley—John and Paul—have been on our radar for quite some time now and we’ve endeavored over the years to place them squarely on yours. Together as half of U.S. Royalty, the four-piece had a solid run in our little hamlet of Washington, DC. From early warehouse shows to pressing their own records and later a slot at the inaugural Landmark Festival on DC’s Mall, they effectively cast quite the spell during their 45-minute set.
The brothers are back via a new locale (Los Angeles), and under a new name. Born Rivals is the handle for their current musical project which finds the duo releasing one song a month which will ultimately culminate in a series of seasonal EPs. Today, we’re delighted to premiere the track for January, “Fading Stars.” And it’s a mighty one at that—with a driving bassline over which Siouxsie-esque atmospherics meet for a chorus Noel Gallagher might envy. Fair warning, it’s also a bit of an earworm.
“For this song we collaborated with writer/ producer/ engineer Justin Long before we had moved out to LA,” John tells us. “Paul had already demoed out a lot of the song’s music and was adamant about achieving this certain delayed drum sound. Using that as a foundation we just filled the spaces with ’90s guitars and called it a day. Lyrically the song speaks to the confidence that can grow through a close relationship and how the co-dependency can be thrilling, but at the same time scary when it’s coming to an end.”
Stream Born Rivals “Fading Stars” above via Soundcloud or on Spotify.
