Having just released the A-side of I Think I’ve Been Here Before last month, alt-pop trio Arrows in Action has already released the first single off side B. The song, titled “Empty Canvas,” is an upbeat love song with a lively saxophone, vocals from Victor Viramontes-Pattison, guitar from Matthew Fowler, and drums from Jesse Frimmel.
The band first came together at the University of Florida and are now in their eighth year as Arrows in Action, with many of their songs having 1 million or more streams on Spotify. While the band’s songs are incredibly catchy and ones that fans love to play on repeat, they have the substance that many songs lack in this digital age. Arrows in Action is clever with their lyrics, and when matched with the recognizable vocals of Viramontes-Pattison and musical talent from Fowler and Frimmel, the three make for an unstoppable combination. In addition to their sensational catalog, they keep fans engaged with entertaining social media content where they’re not afraid to make jokes about themselves every once in a while.
Right from the beginning of “Empty Canvas,” Viramontes-Pattison sings about being smitten with a woman and is astonished she still hangs around, as he describes himself as “a little bit of flaming hot mess.” Similar to the first lyrics of their other recent single, “Light Like You,” he also gives listeners a snippet of their conversations with “Told you I’d give you the world // And you said ‘hell no’ // Started laughing, saying, ‘Baby, it’s a hellhole,’” before comparing himself to a piece of art with her as the artist and giving meaning to the song’s namesake. One of the things that stands out most about the song is the fun saxophone that joins the energetic guitar and drum melodies.
The video for “Empty Canvas” is just as fun and features the band in a plain, white room with a blank canvas in the back and wearing all white clothes. They perform the song while a hand paints symbols on the canvas that then show up on their faces. Towards the end, they get buckets of blue paint thrown at them, reminiscent of a celebrity getting slimed onstage at the Kid’s Choice Awards.
Last year, Arrows in Action headlined their very own “Back to Life Tour” and played additional shows in support of The Home Team and Mariana’s Trench. They also just finished the last show of their “Lost in the Moment EU/UK Tour” and participated in Rock Sound’s tribute to Twenty One Pilots’ 2015 album Blurryface, where they covered “Ride” for Blurryface Reborn. They also joined forces with The Home Team and Saxl Rose for the extended version of their song, “All Squeezed Out,” off of The Crucible of Life (Deluxe Edition).
Currently, the band is getting ready to release the rest of I Think I’ve Been Here Before on September 19 and preparing for the stacked “Summer School Tour” alongside Charlotte Sands, Taylor Acorn, Rain City Drive, If Not For Me, Beauty School Dropout, and Huddy. The tour starts on July 11 in Detroit, MI, and ends on August 10 in Philadelphia, PA, with a stop at Vans Warped Tour in Long Beach, CA, on July 26.
