The Districts embrace personal growth and change on “Outlaw Love”

This winter, Philly indie rockers The Districts will release their fifth album, The Great American Painting, and gave us the latest taste of it today with the driving new song “Outlaw Love.” Like the lead single “I Want To Feel It All,” it’s rooted in body-moving electronic rock, and the band uses it to reflect on personal growth.

In a press release, frontperson Rob Grote says the song is about reassessing the past and coming to understand how much our personal biases color the way we view the world:

Life is this weird, fucked up journey, constantly changing and constantly realizing you were wrong or followed a false messiah, but there’s a lot of beauty in our ability to shift and grow through observing ourselves and our patterns. I’ve been hurt by people I love and given more than I should at my own expense, but ultimately wouldn’t trade it for the lessons I’ve taken away from it all.

This theme of seeing the world anew is given a visual dimension in the song’s Luke Orlando-directed music video, which plays on baptism imagery with Grote’s bandmates Braden Lawrence and Pat Cassidy dunking him in a river, then bringing him up for air as he sings along; watch below.

The Districts recently cancelled their year-end concerts at Johnny Brenda’s due to the new wave of COVID cases in Philly, and the release of The Great American Painting has been pushed back to March 11th due to manufacturing delays. The band is still on target to headline Union Transfer and celebrate the new album on Saturday, April 16th. Details at the XPN Concert Calendar.