In January, Pernice Brothers announced their new album Who Will You Believe to follow 2019’s Spread The Feeling. The Boston band has shared the title track, “December In Her Eyes,” and “I Don’t Need That Anymore” featuring Neko Case, and today they’re releasing “The Purple Rain.”

“In March of 2019, my cousin Joe Harvard (founder of Fort Apache Studios in Boston), died of cancer,” Joe Pernice said in a statement. He continued:

He was like a brother to me. His death was hard for me to believe and process. By September of that year, two friends, Gary Stewart (former head of A&R at Rhino Records) and David Berman (Silver Jews/Purple Mountains), had taken their own lives. It was a heavy time to say the least. It was a while before I’d feel like trying to write any songs. But when the time came, I was still feeling mournful. It’s no surprise they would have found their way into some songs. I wrote and recorded “The Purple Rain” pretty fast. The song’s anthemic quality seemed right to me as it’s an elegy to some remarkable people. I’ve performed the song live a handful of times since recording it. It feels good to do so. But I’m honestly not sure why, and I don’t care to find out.

Hear the song below.

Who Will You Believe is out 4/5 via New West Records.