From our forthcoming release, Connolly, Part Two. Available on 6/11/21.

“St. Anthony” is a song about how lost souls can find solace by sharing a communal experience. Here, that experience is joining together in song in the congenial environment of an Irish Pub. In his travels, Chad has often noted the welcoming demeanor of “pub dwellers”, especially to those individuals who seem lonely or lost. Could it be because they, themselves, feel the same way?

Lyrics by Chad Walls
Music by Sam Anderson

Sam Anderson: Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocal
Chad Walls: Bass, Percussion 
Ted Warner: Electric Guitar, Backing Vocal
Jimmy Dority: Accordion

www.anovernightlow.com

St. Anthony

"Caterpillar" is the sixth single from our album Connolly, Part Two.

Artwork by Kay Beck
Written by Chad Walls
Performed by Chad Walls, Sam, Anderson, Ted Warner, and Mike Maurice
Recorded by Ted Warner
Mixed by Jonathan Wyman
Mastered by Toby Mountain

Caterpillar

Edinburgh, Scotland is haunted.  Around every corner there are graveyard or underground ghost tours.  But in Edinburgh visitors seek out the spirits to confront a blank page, to shoo away distractions, and to let you know when you've done enough or not.  Maybe it's the Scottish ales, but we hear spirits speak to us when we feel we are in the wrong place or overreaching.  With the help of Kirsten Adamson, a local musician, I wrote this song.  It was inspired by these feelings and the chapter of a random book I grabbed off my shelf one evening that I intended to use as a makeshift clipboard in the Café Royal.  Robert Tristram Coffin, a Maine writer, was comparing the works of New England poets in this particular book.  I opened it out of blank page frustration and discovered a chapter called, "The Artist in the Wrong World."  Perhaps Scottish ales inspired me that evening, but I think it was an old Maine ghost.

The Artist In The Wrong World

“Chemistry” describes the everyday life of a man whose “colorful persistence” allows him to experience the world through senses blended in unusual ways. Inspired? Insane? You be the judge. "Chemistry" is the first single from our forthcoming album "Holyhead" due for release this summer.

Written by Chad Walls and Sam Anderson
Performed by Chad Walls (bass, percussion), Sam Anderson (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Chris Plumstead (electric guitar, back vox), and Paul Gauer (drums) w/special guest, Ellie Osborn (cello, back vox)
Recorded by Rowan Bishop at Garage Mahal Recording
Mixed by Jonathan Wyman
Mastered by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering
Artwork by Kay Beck

www.anovernightlow.com

Chemistry:  
There’s a man who has a rich existence, a colorful persistence (and) has them confused.  With/without a brush and a palette, he's practicing glad talents, hearing the blues.
 
Chemistry is Baudelaire-dramatic, idiosyncratic. How to explain: 
Chemistry like vivid pentatonic, visual symphonic. Inspired or insane?
 
Voices in the city-center spectrum are moving and magenta, lately it’s green.  An edifice of residential senses, everything’s connected shooting a scene.

Chemistry is Baudelaire-dramatic, idiosyncratic. How to explain: 
Chemistry like vivid pentatonic, visual symphonic. Inspired or insane?
 
He smiles when the moon is everything but blue. When he’s smiling at something it’s likely not at you. He smiles at the landscape not for size or scope.  Give him something to laugh about and likely he won’t.

Chemistry is Baudelaire-dramatic, idiosyncratic. How to explain: 
Chemistry like vivid pentatonic, visual symphonic. Inspired or insane?
 
There’s a man who has a rich existence, and that has made a difference .

Chemistry

From our forthcoming record "Holyhead" due for release this summer, "Step Into the Light" explores the idea that, even during dark times, inspiration can be analogous to sunlight streaming through your window. As you discover and develop your own artistic voice, you may find that the darkness that has inhibited you is actually comprised of old traditions that have lost their meaning over time. 

Written by Chad Walls
Performed by An Overnight Low:  Chad Walls, Sam Anderson, Chris Plumstead, Paul Gauer, Ted Warner, and special guest, Monique Barrett
Recorded by Rowan Bishop at Garage Mahal Recording and Jonathan Wyman at The Halo
Mixed by Jonathan Wyman
Mastered by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering
Illustration by David Nicholson

Lyrics
Your music and your poetry make empathy. They will murder greed.
Your music and your poetry, integrity. They mitigate memories.  
 
We hope you step into the light coming through your window 
As the old guard draws its blinds 
And as they find the right hidden innuendos 
You’ll seek out a new way to shine

Your music and your melody will make history.  Feel them stirring sleep. 
Your music and your melody will make a symphony. They will salvage dreams.

We hope you step into the light coming through your window 
As the old guard draws its blinds.
And as they find the right teenage innuendos 
You’ll seek out a new way to shine
And find us in a different frame of mind

www.anovernightlow.com

Step Into the Light

"The Exorcist" is the third single from our forthcoming album, Holyhead, which is due out on October 6th. While we're sure it contains sonic elements that are sure to make your head spin, fear not!  This is not a song about being possessed; rather, it's about the process of losing your possessions and how little things seem to matter once you do.  Sometimes, though, it takes a little nudge from your neighbor.

The Exorcist 
 
A sepia “between the wars” photo poses on  
A hand-me-down chest of drawers, origin unknown 
 
An estate sale vase’s vintage carry case 
Is draft cracked like old lines along the face 
 
Of a clock that shows a frozen sun 
To sing among these things 
When shadows write a counterpart 
The dusk’s a symphony 

Now and then they’ll catch the light 
Acting half past nighttime 
Sighing out a soliloquy 
I lie awake when they whisper that way 
I lie awake when they whisper that way 
    
 They’ll show up for a battle-grab, curio artillery 
Ghosts rewrite the choir parts for an army jamboree 
 
Hear their voices in the waning afternoon 
Singing worn and faded regimental tunes. 
 
On a sleeper-table stage, there beams the stained-glass spotlight sun 
Where spirits were to haunt and howl for an audience of one 
 
Now and then they’ll catch the light 
Acting half past nighttime 
Sighing out a soliloquy 
I lie awake when they whisper that way 
I lie awake when they whisper that way 
     
But a series of old gears hold the ropes to ring the wake 
Neighbour Gabe came by to improvise eith prayer and packing tape 
 
Now and then they’ll catch the light 
Acting half past nighttime 
Sighing out a soliloquy 
I lie awake when they whisper that way 
And it’s clear they are here to stay

The Exorcist

An Overnight Low presents “Ornaments”, our 2023 holiday single. “Ornaments” conveys a message of hope and goodwill, represented by the bright, colorful lighting displays commonly seen during the holiday season. Just as the winter solstice reminds us that the darkest days are behind us, so the glow of Christmas lights signifies that brighter moments lie just ahead.

"Ornaments" is available for download on Bandcamp:
https://anovernightlow.bandcamp.com/track/ornaments

Ornaments

As part of the "Carry-On" Trilogy, on their 2023 album "Holyhead," An Overnight Low explores the theme of letting go through a series of poignant songs. In "A Hundred Sundays," the protagonist grapples with the notion that perhaps his true happiness lies in being apart from the one he loves. The song delves into the complex emotions of finding solace in distance, as the yearning to reunite becomes the lifeline sustaining him, despite the acknowledgment that the relationship is destined to be ephemeral. Rejecting the conventional hues of love characterized by brightness and joy, the protagonist embraces a world painted in monochrome Decembers, signifying a preference for the melancholic beauty of separation over the transient vibrancy of togetherness. 

From our album Holyhead
Written by Chad Walls
Performed by An Overnight Low
Recorded by Rowan Bishop
Mixed by Jonathan Wyman
Mastered by Toby Mountain

www.anovernightlow.com

A Hundred Sundays

Part II, "Carry On" Trilogy:  "Archaeology"
"Archaeology" further enriches the trilogy's tapestry by exploring the depths of human nature through the lens of a chance encounter on a boat journey from Holyhead to Dublin. The song delves into the concept of shedding societal constraints in transient spaces, such as bodies of water, where individuals feel liberated to embrace their primal instincts. An Overnight Low invites listeners to ponder the transformative power of environments that grant absolution from the burdens of everyday life.

Archeology

A non-dreadnought
Holyhead to Dublin
Fought modern thoughts
Lost, assailing nothing

On an eavesdrop
I donned my assumptions
Of gone fodder talk
A song in the discussion:

How do five-pint passengers
Stay three-sheets devout?
They consecrate their sins
Before they cast them out
Can all your sneaky feelings
Stay stranded out at sea?
Abandon your allegiance
Absolve your memories

A cadence in the waves
Beat out my reverie there
The pulse of your heart
Is “A chuisle, mo chroi” here

A nautical call
Hypnotic salvation
The pulse of my heart
Waves of variation

The passengers sang something
confounded by Babel:
“You were near the ocean
The day the towers fell.”
It was sixteen years deep
Underneath the sea
Unfathomed things
Charted out for me

It was sixteen years deep
Underneath the sea
Now what will I do
With all that I believe?

From our album Holyhead
Written by Chad Walls and Sam Anderson
Performed by An Overnight Low
Recorded by Rowan Bishop
Mixed by Jonathan Wyman
Mastered by Toby Mountain

www.anovernightlow.com

Archaeology

In the continuum of the "Carry On" Trilogy, "The Heretic," serving as a sequel to "The Exorcist," delves into the intriguing concept of erasing unwelcome memories by purging material possessions. That these artifacts, once discarded, hold surprisingly little significance in the grand scheme of our lives. Whether it be old photographs, cherished heirlooms, or well-worn books, these are often clung to for a sense of security. Relationships that persist in name alone, underlining the poignant truth that bidding farewell to such connections can be one of life's most formidable challenges.

Written by Chad Walls
Performed by An Overnight Low
Recorded and mixed by Steve Drown
Mastered by Toby Mountain

www.anovernightlow.com

The Heretic

He would describe an afternoon, no wind sky, after sky. 
A grace between ocean waves revise and erase day
after day.  The light’s failing fast. Oh my, how the days pass.                             

He had memorized cicadas heckle dragonflies. 
But it’s less than light dusk, the breakfast sun 
Weathered, left us.  It held all we should know.                             
So long, where did you go?                           

There’s a light that shines you’ll find you need to be reminded.           
Not everybody knows. There’s a light that shines in time you leave or die behind it. And so it goes.                                                
 

Dragonfly

Another single from our forthcoming record, Connolly, Part One. More info at www.anovernightlow.com

another plot at the wrong time of june:

we had the luxury of a whole day...  we had decided to love better... in a chapel with statues of saints... and Aristotle's observations...
 
in a propagation of sun... to obscure a window view... posing pictures of apples and plums... another plot at the wrong time of June

we were born to turn a phase...  so we babbled like a mountain brook... through the luxury of a whole day... and the charity of a full moon... 

if we dance through pinholes of light... stars will bow and genuflect... project ourselves into the night... our potential infinite

hear their voices echoing like a choir... hear their echoes joining in like a choir

let the vanity of our youth... make a flashbulb lithograph... we are what we leave behind... a philosopher's epitaph

so let's pretend it's our wedding day... take a picture of us making vows.. to be children of the yea or nay... not privy to what saints allow

hear their voices echoing like a choir... hear their echoes joining in like a choir

Another Plot at the Wrong Time of June

Purchase @Bandcamp: https://anovernightlow.bandcamp.com/album/paracetamol-philistines

Written by Chad Walls
Performed by An Overnight Low (Chad Walls and Sam Anderson)
With guests Joe Boucher and Chris White
Recorded by Jason Phelps at Acadia Recording Company
Additional recording by Kevin Billingslea at The Halo Studio
Mixed by Kevin Billingslea at The Halo Studio
Mastered by Toby Mountain at Northeastern Digital

www.anovernightlow.com

lyrics:
Outskirt sewn              
Army-bound kids  
Ten miles out 
And gathered in 
Safety pins  
Hold them. Seems 
They kid around about city things     

Inebriate of         
Pint-sized dreams 
Paracetamol  philistines 
Brushed off and 
Shameless framed 
That’s the picture cities paint

When borders move a certain way 
A gateway is a barricade
When all the pawns’ kids are kings
They holiday down by the Seine 
But faith in fortune doesn’t matter
Chutes and ladders

Thank you for		 
Showing me around		 
A fancy green			 
Yankee clown 
Raise one 
For the USA 
That’s why things stay this way

If your prayers have been answered   
You can rest for a while		  			 
Cap-in-hand, gandy dancers               
Get to work on time	

Scenic line
By Kilkenny 			 
The seats recline 
The engine heaves 
We sing songs 
Of trains and fate 
And wonder where they terminate

When borders move a certain way 
A passage is a palisade
When all the pawns’ children think
Hold the door, I want to get in
But faith in fortune doesn’t matter
Chutes and ladders

Paracetamol Phillistines

The music of An Overnight Low is based on a journey, one that  has  inspired a series of travel-themed  albums. The first release of the trilogy,  Euston, was released in 2014 to favorable reviews.   Ben  Meiklejohn  of  Mainley  Media  observed that  Euston  “sounds like R.E.M. would sound like if they were downgraded from being a spectacle arena-rock band to being a small folk-rock band performing in a café.”   Mark  Curdo, DJ for WCYY and  a  contributing writer for Maine Magazine,  says  Euston  “delivers vintage, old-school college rock- from back when college radio was at its finest.”   Rick Johnson of the Portland Press Herald added, “The resulting song cycle that makes up the album plays like a great road movie, and hits all the essential road movie bullet points along the way, including lost loves, and fading friendships.” 

Piccadilly  debuted at #1 on  Bull Moose’s “Top 10 Local Releases”  when it arrived in November of 2015,  and also received positive reviews.    Mike Dow of The Maine Edge called Piccadilly “one of the most rewarding Maine-made listens  of 2015. ”  Gascan Magazine stated  that “Albert’s Square”, a track from  Piccadilly, “feels like an undiscovered Beatles demo”, while  Emily Stoddard-Burnham of BDN’s Culture Shock noted that, “Piccadilly is very much in keeping with the tuneful, melodic, Beatles-haunted indie pop that was present on the first album”  and mp3hugger (Ireland) found it to a be "as lively as can be, so we get a bevvy of dishy and industrious chords to go with the slightly folky vocals."  The video for Dragonfly also received positive reviews. Lefuturewave (NE) hailed it as “a real masterpiece.” 

Lyrically,  Waverley  continues  where  Piccadilly  left off, exploring old ghosts and demons in the wonderful city of Edinburgh. This  time around, you can  join Chad as he relates stories  pertaining to  the Edinburgh Fringe, spirits in a dwelling, street foxes, a  “double-dose of iodine”, and  a city that,  at least from on high,  looks like the inside of a trumpet.  Waverley also seems to appeal to critics who found that Waverley was  “A big pop take with confident elements” (We All Want Someone to Shout For), “their most musically varied and richly-produced collection yet (Mike Dow, The Maine Edge).  As 2017 drew to a close, An Overnight Low received a Portland Music Award, recognized as the city’s “Best Rock Act” by the readers of the Portland Phoenix. Acknowledging the award, the Phoenix stated “Keeping with the train metaphors, An Overnight Low has proved they’re not just passing through; they’re here to stay.”  

An Overnight Low debuted the first single,  Galileo Chains, received a wide airplay in the United States, Ireland, and England.   Mystic Sons (London) said that An Overnight Low “channels the retro sound of R.E.M. for this swooning alt-rock delight.”  Barry Gruff (Ireland) also acknowledged  Galileo Chains  as a “bright, upbeat & melodic slice of  jangley  guitar-pop.”  At Cost Magazine (Canada) declared it “a bright and rosy twee sound with instrumental warmth” while  When the Horn Blows (London) found that  Galileo Chains  has “a great energy, attitude and bounce.”  Critics also gave praise to the second single,  Another Plot at the Wrong Time of June (featuring Monique Barrett): “Effervescent vocals shine though” (ObscureSound) a “Bright, upbeat and hooky slice of melodic indie-pop. It is dripping with melody and oozing with a sweetness and charm as it skips  along a smiley, jovial groove” (BarryGruff).  In late 2019, they released  Tameside (featuring Ted Warner), the third single from Connolly, Part One.   Aimsel  Ponti  included the song in the Portland Press Herald’s  “Face the Music” year-end highlight reel and declared it “pure, upbeat sunshine,” while other writers found that Tameside “rustles our inner 90's and takes us back to younger, freer days when nothing seemed to hold  us back from having a good time (mp3hugger).

Despite restrictions implemented due to a global pandemic, An Overnight Low still managed to enjoy a productive 2020. The band continued to work on Connolly, Part Two throughout the year, recording numerous songs at four separate studios, with help provided by a host of distinguished local musicians. In all, eleven new tracks were completed. Having this wealth of new material prompted the release of three singles over the course of the year. 

The first single, “New Fascinations”, was released in early July, along with an accompanying video. That video, with its theme of pandemic-induced isolation, resonated with the band’s fan base, garnering hundreds of views in just a few days. As for the song itself, Sam Pfeifle of the Portland Phoenix noted that AOL sounded “like a band that put a lot of care and attention into what they were trying to produce”. Proceeds from the sale of “New Fascinations” were donated to the employee tip jar at Elements Books Coffee Beer in Biddeford ME, one of the band’s favorite venues. 

“Dover Thrift Edition” (single version) was released as a B-side in late August and received repeated airplay on local radio. The song was accompanied by a video, which continued AOL’s exploration into themes of isolation and disconnection. The year’s final release was a holiday single, “Gold Star”, which became available to the public on December 3rd. In the Portland Press Herald, Aimsel Ponti described the song as being “the good kind of infectious”, while Mike Dow of The Maine Edge proclaimed that “Gold Star” was a “tasty bite of bright power pop”. All funds received for sale of the single were donated to the Center for Grieving Children in Portland, Maine.  

In early 2021, Alt77.com found that their next release “Paracetamol Philistines” contained “grandpop orchestration and pretty melodies,” while St. Anthony, the third single from Connolly, Part Two, was also met with similar criticism.  We All Want Something to Shout For praised “St. Anthony” for its “lovely classic-esque storytelling” and mp3hugger proposes that “Beer tankards be raised in its company...it is soul nourishing that songs like this are still being made in 2021.”  “St. Anthony” also made Mainebrews N Musicreviews’ “Top Singles of 2021”. 

An Overnight Low had high hopes for summer. An early review of their next single “Surfeit Safari” compared it to “a sound reminiscent of the likes of Jets to Brazil, The Get Up Kids, with some R.E.M. undertones” (UNXIGNED).  At the close of 2021, a deep track (and band favorite) from Connolly, Part Two, “Terminal D”, made The Portland Phoenix’ “Top Singles of 2021”.  They also began working on new material with a new line up:  enter Chris Plumstead, Paul Gauer, and Ellie Osborn.  They released a new single, “The Exorcist”, on Halloween (2021).  The Portland Press Herald called it “moody, but snappy and smart”.  At the close of 2021, An Overnight Low released their annual holiday single called “Tilt One to Your Teeth (Saturnalia)”.  Finally, mp3hugger delivered an unexpected review of Caterpillar right before Easter weekend of 2022: “An Overnight Low is here to woo us like the country version of The Monkees ... It could have gone down quite well in the court of King Arthur in fact such is its style and the ease with which it could transfer to open courtyard of a warm spring evening. Was getting some serious Tapioca Tundra flashbacks here!”

An Overnight Low

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