Train Releases 'A Girl, a Bottle, a Boat': What to Know About the New Album
The band performed Friday on "Good Morning America."
— -- Train's new album, "A Girl, a Bottle, a Boat," arrives Friday, but it's just the latest chapter in an intensely creative period for the Grammy-winning group.
Since their 2014 album "Bulletproof Picasso," they've released two other albums, which frontman Pat Monahan told ABC News keeps things "super fun" and "exciting" for the band.
"I just feel like now, this version of Train is just so willing to do everything and anything that it's super fun," he said of the band's output, which includes the 2015 holiday set "Christmas in Tahoe" and 2016's covers album "Train Plays Led Zeppelin II." "It's just very musical ... these guys just wanna constantly be creative. It just keeps us from resting, and keeps it exciting and makes us better."
"A Girl, a Bottle, a Boat" takes its title from the fact that Monahan, who spent two years crafting songs for the project, thinks the album sounds like a "boat" record. And what does that mean, exactly?
"When I hear a 'boat record,' I think of, like, Jimmy Buffet's 'Margaritaville,'" he explained. "It's just, you're on the beach, you can visualize where you would be while listening to that song. And I think this record ... it sounds like that to me."
And, as it happens, boats and bottles figure prominently in Train's career; each year, the band hosts their Sail Across the Sun fan cruise, and they have their own line of wine.
"If you're gonna be on a boat," Monahan said, "you should probably have a bottle of wine and your favorite person. You can't call the record 'A Boat.' There has to be a story to it."
The songs on "A Girl, a Bottle, a Boat" are diverse, encompassing everything from reggae and doo-wop to pop and rock. The album also includes Train's latest hit, "Play That Song," based on the 1938 standard "Heart and Soul."
"I think the melody of 'Heart and Soul,' it's ancient," said Monahan, explaining why the song has gained popularity. "And so the familiarity is there and then it's also a more modern version, it's a big pop song ... it's for the young, and for the not-so-young who are reminiscing."
Monahan hopes "Play That Song" will turn a new generation of fans onto his band's music. Fans both old and new will be turning out for Train's Play That Song summer tour, with O.A.R. and Natasha Bedingfield, which kicks off May 12 in Las Vegas.
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