On “If I Try To Leave”, the Providence, Rhode Island four piece Deer Tick carve a slab of Exile On Main Street informed rock, propulsively banging out piano chords and ripping into meaty guitar riffs throughout. Notable for caging a more aggressive sound than much of their previous work, it is also the first time in their nearly two-decade career that guitarist and vocalist John McCauley and guitarist Ian O’Neil wrote a song together. It is the lead off track to their ten-song collection Emotional Contracts, produced by Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Sleater-Kinney, Spoon).
The howling extroversion of the jam balances with subject matter that is equally characteristic of the band’s seven previous albums, a kind of introspective yin to the song’s sonic yang. McCauley says, “The overall theme of this song is family and how I’ve come to rely on it. I need my family as a grounding force in my life. My survival depends on it, and I like it that way.”
