Rattlesnake

As the front man of The Strumbellas, Simon Ward can attest that balancing work and family life isn't easy. Over the past few years, the musician spent a great deal of time touring with the indie rock sextet, traversing the globe and delivering standout performances at festivals including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. The other side of the coin, for Ward, is a bustling home in small town Canada with his wife and three young children. His constantly juxtaposed life is the thread that weaves its way through this fourth studio album.

Rattlesnake is a testament to Ward's personal growth and evolution as told through nine emboldened tracks. The album, recorded on the band's home turf in Kingston and Toronto, Ontario, is a musical step forward from the to-the-rafters scrappy folk aesthetic of their earlier work.

Lead single "Salvation" crackles with an aerobic gallop. Elsewhere on Rattlesnake, they keep the energy sustained with the breezy dust up "Running Scared (Desert Song)", while the chugging "We Were Young" is a love letter from Ward to his wife. But The Strumbellas also have a more melancholy meditative side, too, scaling back the swelling theatrics for the wistful acoustic guitar-strummed "The Party" and heart-eyed closer jam "All My Life".