Sometimes, you need a song that just gets going. No pretense, no messing around–let’s just play. Of course, we know the work that goes into making something sound so free and open, but let’s not get hung up on that, because if we do, we’ll miss the joy and exhilaration of giving yourself over to a song. Well, if you need a song to turn up the volume on, I recommend “You Know What To Do,” by the South Carolina group The Restoration.

This is an ambitious musical group, working with a wide array of genres and sensibilities to create albums that truly tell stories. And even though I like Jason Isbell’s claim that “every album is a concept album,” that doesn’t really hold true for many, many records. But for The Restoration’s albums, it certainly does, so much so that while we’re singling out this song for your attention, you should really just let the whole record spin. 

Who: The Restoration

From: Columbia, SC

Song: “You Know What To Do”

Latest Record: West 

What About It: Daniel Machado, the principal songwriter for The Restoration has this to say about the tune: ““You Know What To Do” and “We Might Could,” the song that follows it on the album, are both about coming-of-age sexual awakening, but while the former focuses on the excitement this experience can bring, the latter deals with the consequences, both real and imagined.

The album’s characters, Ruby and Joe, are based on my real-life grandparents and the rest of the songs follow their journey from newlyweds, to young parents in over their heads, through a series of irreversible decisions that leave them estranged from their children and each other.“