Ones2Watch Home

Nashville emo favorites Free Throw have always thrived in the messy emotional in-between, the moments where clarity hasn’t quite arrived yet. With their latest single, “The Outlaw Star,” the band channels that restless space into something propulsive and reflective. The track arrives as the second preview of their upcoming sixth studio album, Moments Before The Wind, out March 27, transforming what the band describe as “the ashes of a failed attempt” into one of the record’s most immediate and cathartic moments.

Musically, “The Outlaw Star” surges forward on bright, driving guitar lines and tightly wound rhythms, gradually building into the soaring, emotionally charged release that has long defined Free Throw’s take on modern emo. That momentum mirrors the song’s lyrical tension as vocalist and guitarist Cory Castro wrestles with the uneasy aftermath of a relationship stuck in limbo. He traces the quiet fractures that appear when two people drift from lovers into something more distant, capturing the cyclical anxiety hinted in the hook, “I was afraid of repetition / Circling in orbit, the changing of tides.” As the song unfolds, that emotional distance gradually reframes itself as clarity, the kind that only arrives once you’ve stepped outside of the situation entirely.

Produced by longtime collaborator Brett Romnes (Hot Mulligan, The Movielife), Moments Before The Wind leans heavily into the concept of liminality, the psychological in-between spaces where certainty dissolves and identity shifts. Throughout the record, that idea manifests as a mental “backroom” or endless hallway, a metaphor for feeling suspended between versions of yourself.

“The record has this theme of liminality — not just as a place, but in your mind,” Castro shared. “It’s like being stuck in a doorframe or a long hallway that never ends.”

A turbulent stretch in Castro’s life shaped that introspection. During the album’s creation, he navigated the dissolution of a long-term relationship and, midway through recording, received the life-altering news that he was going to become a father. Those simultaneous endings and beginnings echo throughout the record, giving songs like “The Outlaw Star” a sense of reflection that balances regret with the possibility of realignment.

To support the release, Free Throw have also announced an extensive run of live dates. The band will celebrate the album with a massive hometown show in Nashville on May 30 at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville alongside Tigers Jaw, Ben Quad, and Pool Kids. UK fans can also catch the band this summer when they head overseas for festival appearances at Outbreak Festival and 2000trees Festival, alongside a string of headline dates with Saturdays At Your Place.

Be sure to check out Free Throw’s single, “The Outlaw Star,” today!