The Jet Age (Photo courtesy Big Hassle)

With today’s focus on happy dance music or sweeping reflective ballads, it’s sometimes hard to find an accessible indie rock band with a wider message.

Enter The Jet Age, flying into your ears with a fleet of guitars built on styles from the ‘90s and ponderous lyrics reacting to the events of today in their sixth LP, Destroy. Rebuild., scheduled for release on August 28 from Sonic Boomerang Records.

In 2014, the death of Eric Garner in custody of the New York Police Department, and his last words “I can’t breathe,” sparked national protests and serve as the inspiration for a song on the album titled after the famous quote. And first single “Don’t Make A Sound” romanticizes the notion that “things can change if we want them to” because “Times like this I think we can do anything.”

Listen to tracks from Destroy. Rebuild. by The Jet Age, and preorder the album on Bandcamp:

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Although The Jet Age are a DC trio led by singer-songwriter Eric Tischler, the band will debut the album at a release party on August 29-30 in Brighton, England, as part of the At the Edge of the Sea Festival, hosted by The Wedding Present. It’s rather appropriate that The Jet Age team up with the UK jangle-pop icons, as the two bands have toured extensively together in the past and The Wedding Present often are cited as a major influence on The Jet Age.

Eric and bandmates bassist Greg Bennett and drummer Pete Nuwayser recorded the new album in closed sessions in Eric’s DC home studio, and the album reflects that intimacy.

“We recorded all the basic tracks live in the same room,” Eric said in a press release. “It was awesome, because everyone could maintain eye contact, no one needed headphones and there was just enough bleed to glue it all together.”

Regarding the themes of the album, Eric added, “The flip side of all this depressing crap—including watching some other couples around me go down in flames—is that it’s really renewed my appreciation for the ways in which my wife and kids provide a port in the storm so, yeah, it’s about relationships, it’s about the country, it’s about the band.”

The Jet Age haven’t announced any upcoming local shows yet, but keep your eyes open on their Facebook page.

Meanwhile, give the new album a listen, and see if you too are inspired to Destroy. Rebuild.