“Wolves Outside the Door” is on the Todd Farrell-fronted Nashville band’s new album, ‘Summer, Slowly’

Todd Farrell, Jr. used to play guitar in Columbus band Two Cow Garage, and now he’s the singer/guitarist and primary songwriter in Nashville rock outfit Benchmarks. On Aug. 21, the band released a new album, Summer, Slowly, which blends early aughts emo with heartland rock. 

One of the new tracks, “Wolves Outside the Door,” features Lydia Loveless on the song’s bridge and outro, as Farrell, Jr. sings about anxiety-induced insomnia and fever dreams: “I’ve been stumbling in this darkness/I can barely get to sleep/And when I can, the things I dream about/Ain’t what they used to be.”

“’Wolves Outside the Door’” is about confronting the future. I decided to walk away from a situation I loved, because it was slowly killing me, and prepared myself to endure the consequences. It’s very much a ‘rip off the Band-aid’ track,” Farrell, Jr. said in a press release. “Lydia Loveless sings on the bridge and outro of this song, which was really special as both a friend and a fan. Her voice is so powerful, but so vulnerable at the same time, and it was perfect for this track.”

Summer, Slowly follows Benchmarks’ 2017 album, Our Undivided Attention, and 2015 debut EP American Night. Listen to “Wolves Outside the Door” below.