THE SECRET BEACH - WE WERE BORN HERE, WHAT’S YOUR EXCUSE?
LABEL : VICTORY POOL // RELEASE : AUGUST 23, 2024


The Secret Beach is an ever-shifting group of musicians and co-conspirators orbiting around the songs and voice of Prairie-based songwriter Micah Erenberg. The band moniker – in the same vein as classic groups Guided By Voices, The Byrds, and Tame Impala – helpfully points out that a songwriter is not an island (or indeed, a beach) unto themselves, and the contributions from the involved parties go a long way in making this project what it is.

A retrospective view of life as a younger man, today’s single, "22", is a beautiful rendition of regret, as Erenberg infuses classic romantic tropes into a lamenting story about his relationship with the city of Winnipeg.

Erenberg calls the single, "A song about being young in a frozen, gentrifying shithole. Inspired by the infamous Simpsons’ 'Midnight RX' (season 16, episode 6), where a welcome to Winnipeg sign reads 'NOW ENTERING WINNIPEG. WE WERE BORN HERE, WHAT’S YOUR EXCUSE?'"

"I’d like to dedicate this one to some of Manitoba’s finest street performers," He continues, "Eric the Great, Blue McLeod and Curtis Falk. Frequenters of the Osborne Village strip. The last time I walked through that spot at night, there was no soul to be found. The live music spots were closed, some canned music played out into the street. Eric, Blue and Curtis had moved on to better spots, I guess. I still love that town...yeah, it’s a shithole, but it’s our shithole."

Helmed by meandering 12-string guitar and the lonesome wails of pedal steel, the song's nostalgic qualities are only enhanced by the video that accompanies it, which features a series of snowy, archival footage from the Manitoba Department of Tourism and Recreation.

WE WERE BORN HERE, WHAT’S YOUR EXCUSE?
01 Beautiful Everything
02 Sunspill
03 Buying You A Garnet Amp
04 22
05 All This Living
06 Have You Seen The News?
07 If You Don't Love Me, Let Me Go
08 Blame Manny
09 Sucked Into It
10 L.A. Haircut
11 Long Distance Gossip
12 Not So Bad
13 Natural Metaphor
14 Where Did It Go?
15 Hat's Way of Walking

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