Broken Into Better Shape is the fifth studio album from Philadelphia indie rockers Good Old War, and it’s the follow up to the band’s acclaimed 2012 long player Come Back As Rain and an impressive follow up it is.

Broken Into Better Shape is the band’s proudest moment, an album filled with lush, well-crafted songs with no filler.

Consisting of ten songs that were whittled down from a pool of over forty, this is the bbd boiled down to their very best. Anthemic rock melts into more delicate layered songwriting. To celebrate its release, the band have given us a track by track run down or the album. Check it out below and if you like what you hear be sure to visit the band’s Facebook page for more info.

Tell Me What You Want From Me

This is the song that made the biggest statement of change from what are listeners are used to. The core of the song is still the same with lots of harmonies and acoustic guitars but when the chorus kicks in so does some deep bass, big drums and some extra synth, making it a bigger sound than we’ve ever produced.

Fly Away

The sound of the album was shaped from the idea of this song. We built the track without any song in mind by layering guitars, percussion and beds harmony. We didn’t worry about how we would play it. It was a fun experiment. We had the verses and we took it to Emile Haynie (Lana Del Ray, fun. , Kanye) and asked him to help us write a chorus and bridge.

The song is about when you get hit with something very unexpected and you aren’t prepared to react to it and you get the feeling like running away from it instead of dealing with it.

Never Gonna See Me Cry

We took the idea of Smokey Robinsons “the tracks of my tears” and flipped it. Instead of being able to look close and see tears, you only see a cold stare. We talk about love, life, and the heart and soul being damaged yet you’ll never see us cry about it.

Broken Into Better Shape

This song was written after a friend told us he was one more mistake from losing everything. The statement was out of the blue and caught us off guard. We soon found out he was struggling with heroin addiction. Seeing how it was affecting his life and family, we wanted to write a song for him. It was written from his perspective after he had pulled himself through it.

Small World

This is another song we built the track out before we had a song in mind. The idea behind the lyrics is that it’s such a small world that it’s hard to find a place to be alone.

Broken Record

This is a song about trying to get out of the vicious cycles we all find ourselves in. Making the same mistakes over and over again can be so frustrating. We figured we could write a song that felt good and is all about escaping that mode. Musically, it’s very upbeat and it’s extremely fun to play.

One More Time

This one is about trying to comfort someone we love when we’re about to leave them for a while. When you tour a lot, these kinds of experiences become part of your very being and we have lots of songs that reference having to be far away from our friends and families. It was written mostly to Keith’s kids but can be meant for anyone you don’t want to leave behind.

I’m The One

This is kind of our version of “Backdoor Man.” We heard that song and thought it would be fun to do something lyrically in that vein. It originally started with an almost dance beat but took on a much more classic soul feeling when we took it into the studio. It’s a great moody feeling song with an uplifting chorus.

Dark Days

A song about looking back and not missing all the trouble we’ve been in. Thinking about all the stupid mistakes we’ve made over the years and being appreciative that we’ve had the ability to put all that behind us and see the now as the best time in our lives. Musically,

The verses are moody and meant to represent looking back at the dark days and when the chorus hits the music is uplifting as we are relieved to be in a better place.

Don’t Forget

This felt like the closer for the album as soon as we wrote it. The biggest thing that happened to us during the making of this album was when Tim Arnold (drums/vocals) left the band during the writing process to become a father. We felt the need to tell him we supported his decision and to make sure he knew how much we cared for him even though he couldn’t be there with us. We’d been through so much together and it was impossible to ignore his absence. The sparseness in the arrangement almost makes it feel like the heaviest song on the album.