Luke Armstrong Shares 'BackBack' Single Ahead of Debut EP 'Boys Don't Cry'
The BOYS DON'T CRY EP, produced by Grammy-nominated Daniel James, arrives via Paid Vacation Records/Virgin Music Group.
Beirut-raised, Los Angeles-based artist Luke Armstrong is set to release his debut EP, BOYS DON'T CRY, on August 21 via Paid Vacation Records and Virgin Music Group, and has shared a new single, 'BackBack,' along with a self-directed video ahead of that date. The five-song EP was produced by GRAMMY-nominated producer Daniel James, whose credits include work with Hayley Williams, David Byrne, and others, and draws on Armstrong's experience growing up queer in a Christian household in Lebanon before relocating to Southern California. 'BackBack' is the final preview from the project, following earlier singles from the same release.
Photo by Zachary Gray
'BackBack' vibrates with an athletic verbosity, a palpitating freestyle written in the wake of a breakup, a sleepless night, and a long drive. The melody oscillates with relatable mania, but finds grounding in Armstrong's precocity: Holy growing / We feed the fire and fold them / They take our work and withholding / So I'm rolling for the coping. Of the track, he offers, 'I started writing this immediatly after a breakup call, reflecting on avoidance and letting go and pushing forward in relationships. I kept asking myself, 'What can I really learn from this? How can I take the experience with me?''
The son of American academics and missionaries, Armstrong was born and raised in Beirut and grew up speaking English and Arabic, navigating questions about his own identity — sexual, religious, and political — from a very young age. Music was always the throughline, a way to process those internal conflicts. By age six, he was learning classical piano and teaching himself guitar, banging away on both after hard days at school. His early influences ran the gamut: from the steady Christian rock you might expect to hear in a pastor's household, to the darker moods of metal and alternative you might not, to the revelatory thrill of electronica and house music. He left Lebanon to play college basketball in Southern California, and through the commitments of school and sports, continued producing and writing.
A post-grad move to Los Angeles and the deepening of his collaboration with Daniel James brought everything into focus. 'Every time music comes back up in my life, it feels even more powerful,' says Armstrong. 'Why not just chase it all the way?'
There's a colorful spontaneity to Armstrong's craft, likely owed to his instinctual, stream-of-consciousness approach. His songs radiate with kinetic urgency. Infectious rhythms and buoyant melodies lift whipsmart, emotionally turbulent lyrics in a vibrant span of sonic inspirations: from Frank Ocean to David Bowie to The 1975. The music serves as an outlet for the inevitable pain that comes from existing in today's world, without hiding from it. 'There's an opportunity to face fear with art, to surrender to what scares you, process it, and come through,' he explains. 'I want to be honest about human suffering, and to make a statement about what a better world can look like.'
BOYS DON'T CRY is due out August 21 via Paid Vacation Records / Virgin Music Group.
BOYS DON'T CRY EP Tracklisting:
1. 2000
2. Heavenbound
3. Boys Don't Cry
4. Back Back
5. Little Wins
Photo Credit: Zachary Gray
Photo Credit: Zachary Gray
