Second Street is the second single from Mahout‘s debut album, due in the coming months. The song was born from an attempt to write a danceable tune, equally reminiscent of early Jamaican ska, English 2-tone and Skinhead reggae. In other words, the band’s intention was to write a song that could potentially be appreciated by an imaginary suburban Rudeboy.

You can hear this in the insistent, springy bassline, the minimal guitar skank stubbornly sticking to the same three chords, and the chorus immediately setting the mood of the song, as if everything was happening in an ordinary provincial pub. Lightening up the drizzly British atmosphere of the verse is the chorus, which is deliberately more poppy and hopeful, with backing vocals answering the lead voice. 

The lyrics of the song are about the struggles of provincial life and the importance of finding a way out, literally a Second Street. The whole song is basically about a bittersweet walk through the narrator’s loneliness, frustration and sadness of living in such an isolated and dormant place, but at the same time it is a love letter to his city, a confession that he could not live anywhere else, the roots have grown too deep.

Second Street is released via La Tempesta Dub and is available on digital platforms.