The Reklaws – One Beer Away (Single) / Outliving (for Mom) EP

Starseed Records

Release Date: August 9th / September 27th 2024

Reviewed by: Joshua Andre

The Reklaws– One Beer Away (Single) (Amazon mp3/iTunes) / Outliving (for Mom) EP (Amazon mp3/iTunes)

Track Listing:

  1. One Beer Away
  2. If I Drink Enough
  3. All The Time
  4. Outliving
  5. Stardust
  6. Don’t’ Quit Your Daydream
  7. People Don’t Talk About (Live)

Ever since 2019 when my brother Jon and I branched out into different types of music (because of this still-on-hiatus-but-still-ongoing blog series about influential artists); I’ve been always on the lookout for new music. The ongoing blog series has pushed me out of my comfort zone musically; but more than that, it’s made me realise that I’m really limiting what kind of music speaks to my soul and my spirit if I just listen to CCM. Fast forward to 2024, and these days, I listen to all kinds of music (aside from the metal genre, and most mainstream rap!), and I have many playlists on Spotify- some curated by Spotify and some created by myself. Anyway, it was through one of these playlists that I found out about rising Canadian country sibling duo The Reklaws. With Canada already having a strong country presence (Mackenzie Porter, Jess Moskaluke, Lindsay Ell, High Valley, Time & The Glory Boys, Tenille Townes, Tenille Arts), the stage was set and the standard was high for The Reklaws. Despite having already released 3 albums, it wasn’t until their stint on America’s Got Talent last year, that I sat up and noticed their stuff. And while some Canadians and Americans love to party on their country music, The Reklaws have sobering and reflective music too, as well as an odd party song. These guys, comprising of siblings Stuart and Jenna, aren’t famous. But they are well established, and their latest EP’s One Beer Away and Outliving are two of the most heartbreaking yet hard-hitting and inspiring EP’s I’ve ever heard in recent memory.

“One Beer Away” is a party-esque guitar led song about staying close to your friends and always being there for them. It seems like a ‘raise your glasses and party’ type of song, but the reality is that sometimes we need to talk to that friend that can give you sage advice and can inspire you to take on the world again. This song tries to inspire us to find the joy in living again (‘…from that taste of freedom on a Friday night to letting go and falling into the time of your life, if you asked God and he answered with a neon sign, let’s raise some hell for heaven’s sake, ’cause I’m only one beer away, singing along to songs you don’t even know, to lifting up that Dixie cup full of something that’s cold, from your worst day to your best night, got a heavy heart? Here’s a Busch Light, you name the time and place, I’m only one beer away…’) and encourages us to let our hair down and feel alive again after a traumatic event or a break up. Piano ballad “If I Drink Enough” is led by Jenna, and speaks about the crazy decisions we all might do when we’re not thinking straight and a little bit influenced by the bottle, and guitar led track “All The Time” speaks about moments missed and Sliding Doors’ moments as Stuart sings about regrets and do-overs; yet it is the 4 songs from the latest EP that really speak to my soul.

We lost our mom 2 ½ years ago to mental health and it was terrifying for our family. We didn’t know where to turn or what to do. Stu and I didn’t even really talk about writing about it, but it just sort of happened. He would write some and I write some; We didn’t even know each other was doing it. We came together one day and showed each other these really vulnerable songs we had written about our mom.

It’s so crazy how it all kind of lined up that when we had finished recording them, it was going to be her 60th birthday. It just made sense. The timing seemed perfect.

These songs are really special to us. They’re different for us. Usually, we’re singing about drinking and partying and not so sentimental, but this is part of our life story, and it felt important to talk about it.

I wrote that [the title track] in LA with my good friend Emily Reid. I had this idea in my head of outliving; like outliving somebody felt so weird and gross. I didn’t like that idea, but everything was happening. I was getting married, we were having the biggest summer ever, and it was just like what is happening.  She wasn’t there for any of it, and I couldn’t believe it. I came into it from more of a negative. I was mad that I was outliving.

My friend Emily was like, “let’s sleep on this title.” She woke up the next morning and was like, “I got it. It needs to be good. Like you’re out living your life and that’s exactly what that person would want for you.”

So, we wrote it more from that perspective, updating the person that has passed of what’s been happening. It was so healing to be able to have it be a hopeful song and not a sad song.

Like Jenna said at the beginning of this, we wrote the songs separately, but we actually wrote “Outliving” and “Don’t Quit Your Daydream” with the same people and the same guy who played piano on all those songs.

I came in with that title [“Don’t Quit Your Daydream”]. My mom had always loved the song “My Wish” by Rascal Flatts and I wanted to write a version of that. All she ever wanted us to do was to not work in an office. She wanted us to be interesting, different people who had cool jobs that she could brag to her friends about because she never had that opportunity. She wanted to be an actress and move to LA, and her parents were like “Come on. Get a grip. You’re not gonna actually do that. No one does that.”

Her whole life she was told that she couldn’t do things, and so she told us growing up that we could do anything. I definitely resonated with that when I wrote that song.

The funny thing about the vocals on both those songs; funny that you brought up those two in a row. “Outliving” on Jenna’s side of it, was all sung on the day she wrote it because we couldn’t capture the emotion again. There was no way to replicate what she sang, and then the same thing happened with my vocal on “Don’t Quit Your Daydream.”

It was recorded with the same guy at the same place. We just couldn’t replicate it, and it was the first time in a long time that we had done that. Most time we spend weeks and months redoing vocals.

We did America’s Got Talent. We were asked to come and audition and almost said no, but then were like, “Let’s just do it. Who knows what could happen and what could come of it.”

We decided to play “People Don’t Talk About” because we didn’t know if we’d make the next round, so if we had only one opportunity to sing a song  that might hit somebody at home who could be going through the same thing, it was important for us to do that.

And then all of a sudden, it was like, “Oh! This is where this one is supposed to live. This is where it’s supposed to connect.” We didn’t know it was going to be through that show, but then millions of people were hit by it and started reaching out to us to tell us their story. It was mind blowing.

So, it just made sense to put out the AGT live version. We had the original version up after, but people were asking for the America’s Got Talent one. They wanted to connect to it the way they did when they first saw it live. We felt it was important for it to come out again now that we feel more comfortable talking about it.

Just the amount of people that have reached out, especially with the America’s Got Talent thing, telling their stories and explaining their own battle or parents battle, sister’s, brother, whoever it was…it was just so so enlightening. It was so amazing to see the people who because we told our story, and weren’t afraid to tell it, that they now had the ability and the freedom to. It immediately connected it us with so many people. It was incredible to see. I think the most important thing is to just literally say it out loud. Whatever it is, whatever that monster is that’s in your head telling you you’re weird or something’s not right, as soon as you say it out loud it become less big. It’s not as big of a monster and you’re able to see it for what it is, and you’re allowing someone else to hold it for you to. That for sure is the first step.

We’ve seen it. We’ve seen that all go down, so it’s such a huge honor to say that we’re mental health advocates. You know, we’re still learning to. This is part of our story, and I think we’ll always advocate for mental health. We’ve seen it all go down, have seen the amount of people reaching out, and how this world is affected by it so if we can stand up and help people then that’s what we’ll do.

The songs on Outliving aren’t your usual ‘country’ songs. They’re your songs about life, about the moments that count, they’re songs about the people you care about and love. And I have realised through listening to these heartfelt melodies and tracks that we all don’t know what is going to happen in the future. We might die tomorrow. Or someone close to us might. Whatever the case, let this profound revelation spur us onto living, and not cripple us. Not knowing the future is a gift, and can be the catalyst of living life to the fullest. Spending time with people is key and paramount- no amount of stuff can replace the joy your feel from the good memories you share with people. And so, yeah I can write reviews and write about albums I love or artists I love. Yeah I can do that. And yes I probably will. But after listening to this collection of life changing songs- I think I’ll write and review at a lesser intensity. And so should all of you slow down and smell the roses in life. Life is meant to be spent with family and friends and pets and other people you value. What good is a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul. And so, as I end this review, let me challenge you all to have a day of chatting to your friends and family just because. Have a phone free day or go on day trips. Take that holiday because you never know what is coming next. Do something daring and crazy. We only got one life. So live it well. Thank you to Stuart and Jenna for allowing us all to realise it before it’s too late. And let’s love without condition and bask in God’s creation too!

Score: 5/5

RIYL: Blake Shelton, Maddie & Tae, Mickey Guyton, Luke Bryan, Sugarland

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