On his new single, “Train Tracks,” Saint Nick the Lesser takes us on a slow journey through the emotional backroads of friendship, grief, and quiet determination, one worth embarking on with no return trip.
“Train Tracks,” released January 22, 2025, at Sivraj Studios in North Hollywood with producer Ryan Jarvis and co-producer Rob Maile, is the type of music that doesn’t demand your attention, it commands it. Gritty yet graceful, the song reads like a journal entry hastily scrawled into the pages of a late-night train ride, and its antifolk/punk-ska dervishes evoke peers like Laura Jane Grace and Frank Turner.
Please do not be mistaken, this is not a song about trains. It’s all about the gaps, physical and emotional. Penned in the wake of a particularly personal weekend trip to visit a friend in need in Fresno, the track encapsulates that uniquely human ache of watching someone you love untangle themselves, granting them space for their pain. The storytelling here is subtle yet razor-sharp, Saint Nick doesn’t overshare, he lets the atmosphere speak for itself and trusts the listener to connect the dots.
It’s that self-control that makes “Train Tracks” deliver its punch even more effectively. There is no neat resolution here, no brass band chorus heralding redemption. On the other hand, the track hums with a modest sort of hopefulness, reminiscent of the countryside slipping by the train window at dusk. You can hear the gravity of concern in every chord, but also the love that prevents the whole thing from imploding.
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