A Fragile Tomorrow seamlessly blends each member’s musical interests and dives into new territory as well. From Krautrock-psychedelia, to indie rock swagger, to Crowded House-esque pop songcraft, A Fragile Tomorrow musically and lyrically encapsulates a truly pleasing experience.

A Fragile Tomorrow has released the latest single off their highly anticipated album It’s Better That Way, “Superball”, along with an accompanying video.  Directed and produced by Ted Comerford, and featuring AFT and Peter Holsapple on harmonica & synth, the video for “Superball” is a riveting, intimate view of a “fly on the wall” perspective of the band’s creative process.

In regards to the single Brenden Kelly says:  “The music for ‘Superball’ started with a guitar pedal of the same name from a company called Alexander Pedals. It’s a weird, fun pitch-shifting/filtered delay pedal that is kind of meant to sound like the sonic equivalent of an actual Super Ball bouncing. When I first got the pedal, I quickly stumbled on this setting that jumped out at me, and recorded a loop that ended up becoming the core of the song. I really liked the idea of having this loop repeat throughout and building the chord changes around it with the bass part. Once I got the song structure figured out, I sent it to Sean, who came back with these David Byrne-inspired vocals that really surprised me – he took the song in a direction I didn’t quite expect and absolutely loved. The icing on the cake on this one was Peter’s harmonica, which really reminded me of David Bowie’s “A New Career In A New Town.” This is definitely one of my favorite songs on the record, and might be my favorite sounding mix of the bunch too!”

Sean Kelly adds: “Superball is one of my favorite songs on the record, and has been from the minute Brendan presented the music. I just couldn’t get the chord progression out of my head so I asked him if we could use it for an AFT song. Funnily enough, we sort of interpreted it differently in terms of what he thought would be a verse, chorus, etc. When I finally put lyrics and melody to it, things kind of clicked and Brendan seemed really excited about how I’d interpreted it.I think it’s a unique song in that it’s a pop song that is entirely in 5/4 time. It’s really fun to play, and I think Peter [Holsapple] really elevated it with his harmonica work. I’d heard a harmonica in the song and just gave him one note: “Bob Dylan.” He took it from there and it turned out great.

Lyrically, this song is one of a few on the album that basically is just me working through feelings of disillusionment with pursuing music professionally. I was almost giddy when I came up with the phrase in the chorus, “I lost my place, can’t find the one,” because it can sort of be interpreted in a certain way I suppose, though I wrote it as literally referring to the “one” in the time signature, which I had to really train myself to follow when writing these lyrics. It’s a cool song that I’m really proud to have co-written. It’s also great that we still have our brother Dom, who left the band when we were making this record, on this song. It was one of just a few he played on before he left, so it’s cool to have him on here.”

As for the video Sean shared, “This is the first of a few live videos we shot at Dreamland Recordings in Hurley, NY in December of 2021. It was a really fun, cathartic, hectic, busy, and joyous couple of days. You’ll see that we’re augmented by Peter Holsapple. Peter is obviously a dear friend of ours who we’ve known for something like 16 or 17 years now. He’s literally watched this band evolve from all the way back at the start, and he’s been such a supporter along the way. Bringing him into the fold in a more involved way, which we did on this record, just felt so natural and still does. He’s the best of the best. And nobody plays a B3 like Peter.”

Listeners of It’s Better That Way will be exposed to a band that is more focused on their interests than previous efforts.  Themes of loss, personal struggles, and political strife take shape within a beautiful display.  A Fragile Tomorrow’s latest effort is best described as “art rock” in their minds.  

It’s Better That Way is now available for pre-order.  Official drop date is July 15 via MPress Records.

Photo Courtesy: Ted Comerford