EXCLUSIVE! ‘Long Road Back Around’ by Us Commoners

Wayne Nuessle: “My alternative leanings took hold for the chorus.”

Our first exclusive of the week is from an alt-pop duo who’ve been compared to some of alt-rock’s biggest hitters

Kingston, New York duo Us Commoners offer an alt-pop treat for you with the video for their latest song A Long Road Back Around, which follows on from the release of their summer single The Hot Spot and comes ahead of their hotly anticipated upcoming debut EP.

Us Commoners are comprised of Wayne Nuessle (vocals, acoustic guitar, songwriter) and Bernadette Marnell-Palumbo (vocals, songwriter). They came together after Nuessle teamed-up Marnell-Palumbo to breathe life into his alt-pop songwriting vision.

The duo are backed by a gifted team of music industry veterans, including producer/engineer/multi-instrumentalist Jean-Christophe Santalis (a platinum record recipient for American Authors Best Day of My Life), guitarist Eli Menezes (whose skills have been used by Lauryn Hill, Trey Songz, Ayo) and keyboardist Clifford Carter (who has worked with James Taylor, Natalie Cole, Paul Simon).

A Long Road Back Around is the duo’s latest track and offers a sample of their superb songwriting skills. Speaking of the song, Nuessle says:

“This song was written on an upright grand that was gifted to my family by a local church. Early on in the writing process, the piano layer under the verse vocal sounded quite R&B to me… I thought that was cool and tried to maintain that direction. The chorus went unwritten for a long time. As I always do, I played the instrumental track as I drove around…working out vocal styles. My alternative leanings took hold for the chorus and I was never able to revert back. To my taste, the chorus I came up with was too great to pass on, even as it was taking the song in a new direction and far away from where I initially thought I’d be. As it turns out, I’m thrilled with with where it all landed.”

Us Commoners have been likened to Coldplay and Death Cab For Cutie. We also think that they come across like an 80s’ new wave take on Bibio’s romantic folk-tronica. As always, though, we’ll leave the decision on that up to your gifted ears…

Like that? Then find Us Commoners on Twitter and Facebook or at their own website.

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