Lately, rather than releasing full-length albums, Ted Leo has been posting music to Bandcamp in small batches. Mostly these have taken the form of monthly EPs. The August edition is just two tracks long, but both of them are quite nice.

The A-side to this exercise is a cover of Big Country’s “Inwards,” which brims with that old Hearts Of Oak energy. The B-side is a slower but still bright and punchy original called “The Clearing Of The Land.” On Bandcamp, Leo offers some background on the release:

A digital 7″, prompted by the many suggestions that I cover a Big Country song, as this week marks 40 years since the release of The Crossing. What tipped the scales in favor me actually doing one, was 1.) playing a simplified version at a memorial for my friend, Pete V/Jack Terricloth a couple of weeks ago because it made me think of Pete/Jack, and having someone come up to me afterward shocked that I’d done the song, as it’s a one that’s, for manv years, moved him (also a friend of Pete/Jack) deeply, but that nobody really talks about; and 2.) one intrepid Instagram follower who offered me a “crisp $5.00 bill” if I’d do one; and neither being one to shirk a challenge nor one to scoff at a hard-won Lincoln, I accepted. So here is Inwards, backed with an original I wrote for the Band Together comp (to be found here on Bandcamp) that my friend and former Citizerns Arrest bandmate, Janis Chakars put together. I wanted to remix and add it here for a few reasons, some that I mention in the track description, and another being that at that same memorial for Pete/Jack, Citizens Arrest actually backed me up and played this song live with me; the first and only time to date it’s ever been performed. See you in September. xo

Listen below.