Joe Pug, ‘The Flood in Color’ [Exclusive Premiere]

Singer-songwriter Joe Pug will release his brand-new album The Flood in Color on Friday (July 19), and The Boot's readers are getting an exclusive early listen to its title track. Press play below to hear the song.

The second of 10 songs on The Flood in Color, the album's title track was written by Pug, after the title phrase popped into his head one night, as he was going to sleep. "I faced the dilemma that all creators have at that moment: whether to drag myself out of bed and record the idea or to drift off to sleep never to see it again," he recalls.

"Typically, I'm a lazy bastard in this moment and nod off. But this time, the writer in me prevailed, and I wrote it down. When I woke in the morning and looked at it, I knew it was the album title," Pug remembers. "A month went by, and I found myself in the studio without an idea for a song. 'Maybe I'll try my hand at a title song,' I thought and went at it. When I sent the demo to Kenneth [Pattengale], the producer, he immediately flagged it as a keeper."

Pug's first new album since 2015, The Flood in Color was produced by Pattengale, one-half of the Milk Carton Kids, and engineered by Matt Ross-Spang. After spending years in Chicago, Ill., and Austin, Texas, Pug recently relocated back home to Prince Georges County, Md., and was looking to simplify the album-making process this time around.

“The past couple of albums haven’t always been the most enjoyable to record. The process can really bring on all sorts of pressures about what you should be doing and how you should be doing it, both internally and externally ... And the end result is this strange gravity that just weighs you down," Pug admits. "So Kenneth and I sort of had the idea to strip all that away. I was just going to write songs. And I was going to do it in a way that came naturally to me, and that I enjoyed. Get rid of all the external bulls--t."

The Flood in Color is Pug's fourth full-length album. He's also the host of a monthly podcast, The Working Songwriter, which, since 2015, has put him in conversation with tunesmiths including the Killers' Brandon Flowers, John Paul White, Amanda Palmer and more. Visit JoePugMusic.com to learn more about his upcoming album, his tour dates and the podcast.

Listen to Joe Pug's "The Flood in Color"

50 Country Albums Everyone Must Hear Before They Die