Joe Kelly & The Royal Pharmacy are back with “Cast Me Down” the title track of their upcoming second album, set for release in spring 2025 via Dirty Carrot Records. This song is a must-have for your playlist, blending deep songwriting with captivating melodies and solid production.
From the first note, the song pulls you in with its moody atmosphere and haunting instrumentation. Joe Kelly’s voice is powerful, expressive, and full of emotion. The band provides the perfect backdrop with every instrument carefully placed to support the song’s rich storytelling. The production and mixing are excellent, bringing out the depth and detail in the sound.
The song explores themes of disappointment, self-doubt, and the struggle to move forward. Kelly’s storytelling feels raw and relatable, touching on the way past letdowns can build walls around us. The song carries a cinematic quality, drawing inspiration from biblical narratives and blending it with a dark, alternative edge.
We love how this record balances intensity with beauty. It’s a track that sticks with you, making you eager to hear what’s next on the album. If “Cast Me Down” is any indication, we’re in for something special.
ABOUT THE BAND:
It’s easy to consign the idea of the itinerant blues singer to myth (Robert Johnson) or caricature (Seasick Steve) and for quite some time, Joe Kelly was as close as you could get to the real thing. After spending years living out of various cars, vans and caravans, touring the UK, Australia and New Zealand with just a broken-necked guitar and a battered case of harmonicas, Joe Kelly found shelter in an old Victorian police station just in time to ride out the storm that was the covid-19 pandemic. It was in this time that Joe Kelly was able to focus on consolidating the vast wealth of songs written in transit into an album that could encapsulate the spirit of those years on the road.
Backed by the Royal Pharmacy with Jon Greening on production duties, debut LP ‘World On Fire’ sees the dustbowl-dry skeletons of Joe Kelly’s haunted blues and country songs fleshed out with a widescreen Americana sound ranging from lush to eerie. Reworked from ‘The Album That Never Was’, Joe Kelly & The Royal Pharmacy’s first full offering is an amalgamation of earlier tracks cut live in the studio with minimal overdubs using vintage production methods and newer tracks recorded remotely in lockdown creating a more contemporary sound reminiscent of the likes of The War On Drugs.
