Like so many songs before and since, the Davenports’ “When Everything’s Over” began with a conversation. “The idea came from a story a friend told me about their aging mother,” says New York-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Scott Klass. “She’d always made noise about her family being the most important thing in her life, but she never really acted that way. She wasn’t a jerk or anything—but ultimately, she was just really self-involved and more concerned about catering to herself than her family.”

And therein lies the quandary: “How much do you call out an 80-year-old on their past shoddy behavior?” Klass poses. “In this case, the narrator lets themselves go to a super-dark place in their imagination—basically, ‘You’re going to regret this when you’re crumbling, at the end.’”

Over four albums in 18 years, the Davenports’ thoughtful, melodically inclined indie rock has drawn comparisons to Weezer, Ben Folds and Fountains Of Wayne. A longtime associate of Chris Collingwood, Klass also plays with the Fountain Of Wayne cofounder’s Look Park. These days, he’s also the sole constant in the Davenports, responsible for almost everything on the upcoming You Could’ve Just Said That (Mother West), available in January 2025.

In the meantime, Klass offers a little more on “When Everything’s Over”: “The song is about having chances to do better but blowing it,” he says. “You wish you could tell them how badly they fucked up in certain ways, but you don’t because you figure it’s not worth hurting their feelings. To me, marrying that to a ‘groove song’ gives it even more emotional punch. It’s also the first song I ever wrote that started with a bass line.”

We’re proud to premiere the Davenports’ “When Everything’s Over.”

—Hobart Rowland