The Melancholy Kings’ debut album both celebrates and cringes at the rich tapestry of life’s follies in the Land of Springsteen and Honey. Produced by bassist Scott Selig, Ray Ketchem (Elk City) and singer/guitarist Mike Potenza, recorded and mixed by Ketchem at Magic Door in Montclair, NJ, and featuring guest artists Reneé LoBue (vocals and cover art, Elk City), Dave Derby (vocals, Dambuilders, Gramercy Arms), Peter Hess (saxophone) and Richard Burkhardt (cello), as well as debut vocal performances from Olivia Selig and Jemma Potenza, the Melancholy Kings’ eponymous first album rocks with a quiet intensity recalling the rough-hewn insouciance of 80s, pre-grunge alt-rock. 

Their nod to Spector-infused guitar pop in "Come Back Baby", their driving commentary on finding love in the age of modern technology in "Electrical Mystical Girl" and their emphatic, anthemic shouts in "Never Let Go of Love" showcase the variety of guitar-driven stylings employed by the band.  From the scorched landscape of "Eighth Avenue", which serves as the album’s coda, to "Lovesong b", a paean to the desperation that grips divorceé bars around closing time, to the breezy, put-the-top-down melodic musings of "Memory’s Lips", The Melancholy Kings wear their love-hate relationship with the Garden State and its big city neighbor on their collective sleeve.

The Melancholy Kings

Come Back Baby

Windfall Girl

Memory's Lips

Never Let Go Of Love

Lovesong B

Electrical Mystical Girl

Candy

Anna Marie

Eighth Avenue

The Melancholy Kings have released a special holiday single “Last Day Before Christmas” for download and streaming.  

Recorded during the same sessions as their eponymous debut album, “Last Day Before Christmas” is a swaying rocker about the soul-crushing materialism of the holiday season, and the quest to find happiness in whatever or whomever one can.

Last Day Before Christmas

The Melancholy Kings are from northern New Jersey and, as transplants from NYC, they wear their love-hate relationship with the Garden State and its big city neighbor on their collective sleeve.  In terms of musical style, think Paul Westerberg meets Jeff Tweedy somewhere in the swamps of Jersey.   
The Melancholy Kings were formed while singer/guitarist Mike Potenza and bassist Scott Selig were suffering the ennui of law firm existence in offices two doors apart in non-descript building in Midtown Manhattan, all the while not knowing of each other’s secret parallel pasts as quasi-bohemian post-punkers from the Lower East Side and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Brought together for a charity gig, they roped in friend Jonathan Kampner to play drums, and The Melancholy Kings were born.

The Melancholy Kings unabashedly acknowledge their influences, from the Rolling Stones to Wilco and from the Replacements to the paisley underground. 
The Melancholy Kings’ music both celebrates and cringes at the rich tapestry of life’s follies in the Land of Springsteen and Honey.  Their eponymous debut album showcases their diverse influences and rocks with a quiet intensity recalling the rough-hewn insouciance of 80s, pre-grunge alt-rock.