Tuff Sunshine - "Legwork"

We’re huge fans of Johnny Leitera, the accomplished songwriter behind one of our favorite New York City bands, Tuff Sunshine. He’s as prolific as he is thoughtful. Over the last five years, he’s released three full-length albums, and truth be told, there isn’t a single dud amongst those 30 songs - mainly because Leitera is tuned in to the essentials of solid DIY indie rock: effervescent melodies, hooky guitars, and an overall hard to quantify garage-rock swagger. Though his style is diverse, he’s proven time and again that no matter where he draws influence from, be it post-punk, power pop, garage, soul, or even indie pop, he knows what makes a song great. You can always count on Leitera for just that.

His latest single, “Legwork,” which we’re premiering today, is classic Tuff Sunshine in its groove-centric infectiousness. The ear-wormy, shuffling percussion drives forward Leitera’s similarly situated guitar playing, which busts out at key moments between verse and chorus. Lyrically, the song focuses on changing course after already putting in the required work, emphasizing that there’s really nothing wrong with that, even if it can be a bit frustrating at times: “It ain’t broke, but please feel free to fix it. There’s 2 or 3 paths, but we all know who picks it. I pump my blood into the cuff, but it’s never enough.”

Leitera also shared a video for the track, which captures a man catching a rather large fish. The video comes complete with narrative text that describes the process.

“Legwork” is out tomorrow! You can purchase all of Tuff Sunshine’s music on Bandcamp or stream it on your platform of choice. Keep up with the band by following them on Instagram and liking them on Facebook.

To learn more about Leitera and Tuff Sunshine, you can check out our podcast interview with him from 2019.

The cover art for “Legwork” is a piece called “Walking Wheels” by Betty McGeehan.