One of Texas’s most prolific songwriters, Jared Putnam of The March Divide gathers his pandemic releases into fifth album “cinq,” out April 23rd.

Check in as Putnam chats with American Songwriter about his latest “The Funk That You’re In,” recently rescued from his cell phone graveyard.
 
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Jared Putnam of The March Divide as photographed by Rico DeLeon

 
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The March Divide | “The Funk That You’re In”
 

[STREAM]: https://fanatic.lnk.to/TheMarchDivide-TheFunkThatYoureIn
 

“Impressively hooky. His effortless ability to craft organically catchy and uplifting music is on full display.” — American Songwriter

“I really shoved a lot of pop into this one, but it carries a message of self-destruction,” explains Jared Putnam of The March Divide about his latest single “The Funk That You’re In.”  “The idea was to showcase the irony of being your own worst enemy The kazoo solo is probably worth mentioning.”
 
The song (and kazoo solo) is the end product of a number Putnam thought would remain in his phone graveyard.
 
“That’s usually where my ideas go to die!” he says, “It’s not that I don’t like them, I usually just forget about them, but like everyone else, I had a lot of time to burn last year. Once I picked up my guitar and started messing with the idea, the whole song just kinda fell out of me.”
 
Read more with Jared Putnam of The March Divide and hear the latest single “The Funk That You’re In” over at American Songwriter now or at the link above.
 
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The March Divide
cinq
April 23^rd, 2021
(Slow Start Records)
  

Track Listing:
01. The Funk That You’re In (STREAM)
02. Kris Takes Her Time (LYRIC VIDEO)
03. Lie To Me (LYRIC VIDEO)
04. Numb (LYRIC VIDEO)
05. Your Light (LYRIC VIDEO)
06. September Blues
07. I Don’t Wanna Die Young (LYRIC VIDEO)
08. New Me (LYRIC VIDEO)
09. Remember Who You Are (VIDEO)
10. I Believe
 
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The March Divide | In The Press
 
“Putnam’s vocals pop.” — PopMatters
 
“Classic pop hooks... Hits the mark again and again. ” — The Big Takeover
 
“Catchy as ever.” — Twangville
 
“Strummy acoustic reverie.” — BLURT
 
“Infectiously poppy.” — Glide Magazine
 
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The March Divide | About
 
Jared Putnam is one of the most prolific songwriters in Texas, and he earns that distinction in his second act.
 
Having already flirted with the danger of major labels when his young band The Conversation was a national next thing, in the past decade as The March Divide, Putnam has basically done it all on his own, self-releasing a barrage of singles, EPs, and albums at a seemingly non-stop pace during that time.
 
cinq – his fifth album (Slow Start Records, April 23^rd) – was conceived as a full-length, but has mostly been released throughout the pandemic as a series of singles, with the last two arriving surrounding the album’s release date.
 
With Putnam’s successful regional touring business at a stand-still, he recorded cinq at home, sending tracks to friends to add bass and drums, and tending to his expanding business managing social media ad campaigns for other artists, a skill he learned while systematically building a fanbase for The March Divide that has sustained him, even during lockdown.
 
Barely.
 
“I am very much looking forward to forgetting and moving on from the wrath of what still might end my career,” Putnam says, voicing the frustration of many musicians with vulnerable cottage businesses on the line. “Recording these songs was something I was able to do to get my mind off of all that. What came out is a real hodgepodge of who I am as a writer.”
 
This “hodgepodge” is a boon for fans of Putnam’s songs that are personal, but always safe-effacing, and with a sly humor underneath their rich production and get-to-the-point style. Think a slightly less angular Spoon with work boots on instead of pointy tips (but not too worn out!)
 
“I was able to revisit my rock roots in a meaningful way on this record,” Putnam explains, “but still expand and experiment with the acoustic-based pop ideas I’ve been obsessed with the last few years. I even incorporated some of the hokey melodies that have popped into my head lately by finally taking the time to go back and listen to all the ridiculous phone recordings I’ve made of them.”
 
One of these “hokey” melodies, that a less humble musician might just call “catchy,” became one of cinq’s two new singles, “The Funk That You’re In,” a number Putnam thought would remain in his phone graveyard.
 
“That’s usually where my ideas go to die! It’s not that I don’t like them,” he says, “I usually just forget about them, but like everyone else, I had a lot of time to burn last year. Once I picked up my guitar and started messing with the idea, the whole song just kinda fell out of me. The kazoo solo is probably worth mentioning.”
 
On the other side of the conceptual spectrum from “The Funk That You’re In,” is what will be cinq’s final single and video. “I Believe,” is one of the most personal songs in Putnam’s catalog.
 
Written in a stream of consciousness style, and backed up by a promise to himself not to change the words, Putnam plans to work in this style more going forward.
 
“It’s pretty satisfying to just say what you wanna say, without worrying about how cool it sounds,” he confesses.
 
cinq, the fifth full-length album by The March Divide arrives on April 23^rd via Slow Start Records.
 
Jared Putnam of The March Divide is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.
 
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The March Divide | Links
 
ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : YOUTUBE : INSTAGRAM : BANDCAMP : SLOW START RECORDS
 
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL