The Alternate Routes’ new song, “Stronger,” starts out quietly with a few guitar notes that flow under Eric Donnelly’s voice. A few piano chords weave into the tune after the opening bars, but the tune soon layers vocals and music as it builds to an ethereal climax. As Kevin Monroe and Devotion, a choir from New Haven, add their voices, the song takes off, palpably mirroring the words of the chorus: “Low as I may go/Weak as I may be/You remind me/I get stronger as I go.”
Eric Donnelly co-wrote “Stronger” with Tim Warren (lead vocals) and Kurt (drums/engineer). “It started off an acoustic guitar driven track, not dissimilar to our song ‘Nothing More’,” Donnelly says. “Working with Kurt, we had the luxury to experiment with the song a little more than we normally would. We built it up, broke it down, and built it back up again. By the end, it was a very different song.” The song was inspired, he says, “by less traditional aspects of strength. The people in your life who push you to dig deeper, to be kinder, to forgive when it is hard to. Those are the elements of strength that have been the most challenging for me, and the most often tested. I believe it is a very relevant topic in our country right now. What does it mean to be strong? The world has changed a lot in my lifetime, and it feels as if we are at a crossroads.”
The Alternate Routes are heading out on the road this fall on “The Oddsmakers Tour” to support their most recent singles “Safe Haven” and “Stronger,” and their new live album, “Live in Pawling,” which comes out August 21.
