There’s a certain kind of song that feels like it has lived with you for years, even if you’ve only just heard it – a song that doesn’t arrive with fanfare, but slips in like a memory you didn’t know you still carried. Brooklyn indie-rock quintet Looms have made a habit of writing those songs, and their latest single, “On My Back,” is a quiet testament to that gift.
The track, out August 15 via Paper Golden Records, unfurls with a dreamy, folk-laced tenderness. At its surface, it moves like a lullaby: warm guitar lines, harmonies that linger in the air, and the gentle sway of rhythm. But beneath that softness is a rawer undercurrent – frontman Sharif Mekawy’s recooking with survival, sobriety, and the years lost in between.
“Before, during, and after COVID, my drinking ramped up to a really scary point,” Mekawy shares. “There’s a good five years of my life that really slipped away from me. Thankfully, I was able to quit, and wrote this song as a recounting and reminder of what I was going through with my drinking and how it affected my relationships.”
The imagery in “On My Back” captures that duality – the pull of beauty and the weight of burden: “I was floating in a river of light, I once sat down with a giant ego on my back.” It’s a line that sits like a photograph, both illuminated and heavy, that way old wounds can be softened but never erased by time.
Recorded at Gearbox Recording with longtime engineer Ryan Ball, the track carries the ease of a band that knows how to speak without overexplaining. Core sessions were captured in just a few days, with Mekawy, Harry Morris Jr., A. Hammond Murray, Louis Cozza, and Fred Copeman laying down the bones of the EP, later enriched by harmonies from Mary Hood and Caroline Strickland. Over the course of the year, overdubs and mixes shared the final form, including a special appearance from Wilco’s Nels Cline on “I Killed a Man,” drawn from unused recordings the band had held onto since 2018.
“On My Back” follows the introspective shimmer of “The Iron and The Rust” and the bittersweet drift of “Happy Birthday,” continuing the slow reveal of Big Dream, due September 19. If the first two singles offered glimpses of resilience and reflection, “On My Back” feels like the still center of the recording – a moment to exhale before the next climb.
For over a decade, Looms have been a fixture in New York’s underground, earning comparisons to Wilco, The War on Drugs, and Luna for their ability to stretch a song into something both expansive and intimate. Big Dream is their next horizon, and “On My Back” is a reminder that sometimes the bravest stories are told in a whisper.
“On My Back” is streaming now [STREAM HERE]. Big Dream arrives September 19 via Paper Golden Records [PRE-SAVE HERE].
Big Dreams EP TRACKLISTING
I Killed a Man
The Iron and the Rust
Happy Birthday
On My Back
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