Brooklyn native and indie rock band, We Are Scientists have released their latest single from their upcoming album, Qualifying Miles. Their latest single, “I Could Do Much Worse” is a melancholic power ballad full of guitar and an anthemic chorus. The track stands out from their other work since it is a minor-key ballad and deals with a deeper exploration of emotions. When discussing the track, the band’s frontman, Keith Murray stated, “Our public-facing band persona is so founded in high-energy party vibes that we’re never really given the stylistic leeway to publicly lean into our own power ballads. We’ve always been writing them – I’d argue there’s at least one PB on every last We Are Scientists record, and we in the band always vote that they ought to be singles.”

Murray continued by discussing the various stages he went through all writing the song, saying, “I initially thought it was a morose number. It’s mid-tempo, minor key, kinda emo. The longer I’ve lived with it, though, the more I’m learning that the swelling emotion that drives it is a sort of epistemic wave – you can surf it, or just kinda get tossed underneath it and end up with a face full of coral and shrimp.” He also viewed it as a lament of all the mistakes he has made, but retracted this thought, explaining, “Sometimes when you look back on mistakes that you’ve made, you clock how much you’ve actually learned” and realize that those mistakes can actually be one’s greatest strength. 

“I Could Do Much Worse” is the second single to be released from the band’s upcoming album. The first of which is “Please Don’t Say It” which has been praised by Clash, Dork and The Line Of Best Fit. Both singles fit the album’s greater themes of loss, memory and the temptation of the past. Speaking of the past, the album aims to echo the sound of the ‘90s through its use of guitar while also maintaining the band’s signature style. Qualifying Miles will be released on July 18 on various streaming platforms. 

Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna