Brooklyn ska quartet Be Decent have shared ‘Come Sweetly’, the latest track from their debut album, ‘Now’s The Time’, out September 18 via Two Slices Records.

Following ‘Human Nature’, featuring Ted Leo, and ‘You Better Work’, ‘Come Sweetly’ finds Be Decent stepping slightly outside the ska sound at the centre of the new record.

“By law, they can’t all be ska songs,” bassist Ken Partridge jokes. “It’s good to mix things up, both on the album and on stage, and it’s nice to have a love song, if that’s what you want to call this.”

The qualification is telling. The song opens with “Now that I know I can’t trust you,” and deals as much with frustration as romance.

“So there’s obviously some pain and frustration here,” Partridge says. “And in a weird way, that fits with the other themes on the album. Politically, fiscally, romantically: nothing is ever easy.”

The song actually goes back some years. Singer and guitarist Jimmy Doyle first worked on it with Jack Wright during his time in The Forthrights, when it had more of a rocksteady feel. Doyle recorded another version for his 2022 solo album, ‘Going Gray’, before Be Decent reworked it again, this time with a little more bite.

That willingness to move around stylistically runs through ‘Now’s The Time’. The band’s roots are firmly in ska, reggae and soul, but The Clash, The Jam, Elvis Costello and Dexys Midnight Runners are part of the picture too.

Be Decent formed in Brooklyn in 2022 around Partridge and drummer Geoff Bickford, later joined by Doyle and saxophonist Matt Mason. Their debut deals with mental health, financial instability and political division, while still leaving plenty of room for the hooks and energy that brought the group together in the first place.

‘Now’s The Time’ was recorded by Mitch Rackin, mixed by “Agent” Jay Nugent of The Slackers and mastered by Rackin. Ted Leo guests on ‘Human Nature’.

Headline photo: Graham Ferguson

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