Teddy Glass isn’t a dude. Otherwise, I’d imagine him as a sweater-wearing fine arts major with a complicated coffee order or a fragile-hearted R&B singer. In reality, Teddy Glass is the new project from Josh Halpern and Peter Shults. Sensitive, beat-heavy, and soulful, their brand of pop could convert either of the aforementioned Teddys.
Familiar faces on the Austin music scene, both Halpern and Shults play in the stomp-folk outfit Hello Wheels, which the latter fronts. Meanwhile, Halpern’s better known for his indispensable drum work with indie favorites Marmalakes. For the last two years, they’ve been sneaking off to craft songs and now have a Danny Reisch-produced LP entitled Nights and Weekends materializing Aug. 24.
After building intrigue with energetic preview single “Lean On” earlier this summer, the duo now shares the album’s title track, an extraordinarily mature and well-developed cut that sounds radio – or, at the very least, Spotify playlist – ready. Over a splashing, three-chord keyboard hook, Shults’ earnest voice reconciles survival with following your dreams in a perfect delivery.
“On its own, the song is an expression of the discord between the life you have and the life you want,” explains Shults. “However, within the context of the album, I think it’s a bit of an anthem for working through it, and realizing there’s room to exist in both worlds.”
Having just completed a West Coast tour, Teddy Glass now preps for a pair of local record release events. August 19, they’re hosting a boat party on Lake Travis that’ll also feature Corduroi and DJ Talib. Three days later, you can catch them at Waterloo Records, 5pm, for a free in-store.
In the meantime, give “Nights and Weekends” a spin:
This article appears in August 3 • 2018.