With new album ‘Honeymoon Suite‘ out June 17th via Hand Mirror, the label Harkin founded in 2019 with her wife, the poet Kate Leah Hewett, today Harkin is sharing her new single “Here Again“, featuring brass by Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes) and Aaron Roche (Lower Dens, Sufjan Stevens, Anohni, Flock of Dimes).
Speaking about the track, Harkin said “‘Here Again’ is a song about the timelessness and of love and loss. It’s about the dance of raw vulnerability and galvanising strength that comes with both, how each are transcendent and everyday. Everyone seems to mention how time has worked differently the last few years, and for me that really crystallised in my experiences of love and loss.
My grandad, who passed away years ago, wrote poetry and the line about dancing away references a poem he wrote about his own feelings on mortality. In some ways it feels like an ongoing conversation with him. It’s been hard over the last few years to feel like I’m remaining porous and open to life when there are so many reasons to want to shut it out. This song is a reminder to let it all in.”
‘Honeymoon Suite’ are a blend of love, grief, anxiety, resilience, danger, heartbreak and hope. Part pop record, part electronic soundscape, part interior still life, ‘Honeymoon Suite’ was recorded in a one bedroom flat in the depths of UK lockdowns
The album marks a significant shift for an artist who had previously built a career around collaboration. In addition to her own bands, Harkin has been a touring member of Sleater-Kinney, Wild Beasts, Flock of Dimes, and Kurt Vileand Courtney Barnett’s Sea Lice. She performed backing vocals for Dua Lipa on Saturday Night Live. She dueted with comedian Sarah Silverman on ‘Tiny Changes: A Celebration of Frightened Rabbit’s The Midnight Organ Fight’. Her studio work includes contributions to Waxahatchee’s ‘Out In The Storm’. Outside of the music world, Harkin has composed for Turner Prize-winning artist Helen Marten and British comedian Josie Long. She even has a Saturday Night Live sketch named after her (Fred Armisen’s 2016 ‘Harkin Brothers Band’).
Where her self-titled first record is infused with the expansiveness which birthed it – written and recorded while touring the globe – ‘Honeymoon Suite’ is an entirely different affair. The album was written in the same room in which Harkin and her wife ate all their meals, held their virtual wedding reception and attended a funeral over zoom. As Harkin describes it, ‘Honeymoon Suite’ is “a ship in a bottle of that time”.
The album takes its title from the couple’s affectionate nickname for the flat they found themselves living in after relocating from their then-home in Hudson, New York, where Harkin’s wife was working as a live music promoter until the pandemic was declared. When it became obvious that they would both be out of work indefinitely, they joined many others heeding the call of their home nations to repatriate. In addition to that frenzied move back to the UK, the couple’s planned wedding also took a hard left turn. They had intended to hold a wedding for 150 in September 2020. Instead, they got married in a small, outside ceremony in front of their bubbled parents and siblings. They were married in the Derbyshire village of Eyam, coincidentally famous for quarantining itself during The Bubonic Plague. The flowers in the image on the album’s back cover are their wedding bouquets. “I followed a YouTube tutorial and made our bouquets out of the wedding flowers our friends sent us. We didn’t take a honeymoon and still haven’t. Instead, the flat in Sheffield became our honeymoon suite.”
The album’s DIY ethos continued through its artwork. “Kate took the cover photo and designed the layout. She also designed our original wedding invitations so it felt apt.”
The album also marks Harkin’s first forays into self-producing, a journey she began immediately after her move back to the UK. At that time, her best friend, cinematographer Ashley Connor, asked her to create the soundtrack for an experimental short film she was making for Sam Abbas’ quarantine movie ‘Erēmīta (Anthologies)’. “I’ve worked in all manner of studios and assumed many different roles in music making. I had thousands of flight hours but I had still never been the pilot. Owning the role of producer was more of a mental block than anything else, but circumstance dissolved that intimidation. Working on Ashley’s soundtrack early in the pandemic gave me the confidence to continue producing my own solo work. I won a grant from the PPL Momentum Accelerator Fund which would cover the mixing and mastering if I could be self-sufficient in recording. It felt like the quest I needed to push me into discovering this new direction.”
In terms of instrumentation, ‘Honeymoon Suite’ is more electronic than Harkin’s previous work and this too was for largely practical reasons. “Kate took a remote call centre job when we first got back. This meant we were in the same room, her taking customer service calls and me working on the album. The flat was also above a pub, so I had to record strategically. I’d program drum machines and synths in the day, record guitars in the evenings over the din of the pub-goers, and I’d squeeze vocals into the quiet weekend mornings.”
Indeed, most of the tracks on ‘Honeymoon Suite’ emerged out of synth drones, a refuge for Harkin during the weeks at a time that she didn’t feel like bursting into song. “The album’s glitches and degrading samples reflect the limitations of the digital intimacy we were all relying on during that time as we literally phoned it in.”
Harkin freely admits that the enormity of the task was no walk in the park for the first time producer. “Being my own mirror was ego-crushing at times; I knew these songs deserved extra gusto that I had to outsource.” That’s where the brass by Nate Walcott and Aaron Roche, slide guitar by J.R. Bohannon (Torres) and backing vocals by Sophie Galpin (Soft Lad, Self Esteem) came in, sent down the wire from their respective homes. It was even mixed and mastered remotely (mixed by Jeff T Smith in Leeds and mastered by Guy Davie in London).
As Harkin puts it, “for me, this album was a rabbit hole and escape hatch. It’s a very vulnerable record. There are no performances – I made it alone. Releasing it into the world feels like an extension of the solitary process and remote collaboration which created it. I hope it travels far and wide.”
JayWood – the moniker of Winnipeg musician & songwriter Jeremy Haywood-Smith – presents a new single/video, “Thank You,” from his forthcoming album, Slingshot, out July 15th on Captured Tracks. The album’s penultimate track, “Thank You” was co-produced with Jacob Portrait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra & Blouse and features string arrangements by Johan Lenox. The song brings JayWood’s sound full circle, offering something reminiscent of Haywood-Smith’s earliest recordings while flaunting that “the best is yet to come.” “‘Thank You’ is a song that’s dedicated to the folks that aren’t really in my life anymore, but more importantly it’s for my mom who passed away back in 2019.” says Haywood-Smith. “I feel like this song kinda wrote itself, it felt so easy to put together because I knew the core of what I was trying to get across. The demo for this song felt super strong but after Jake and I spent some time expanding a few ideas, the song really blossomed into something I couldn’t ever imagine.”
The charming accompanying video, directed by Chantel Simpson, shows Haywood-Smith passing out flowers across Harlem.
The narrative for Slingshot takes place in the span of one day. From the first track to the last track, JayWood takes you on a journey that touches on themes of childhood, religion, and identity. While writing and recording the album, Haywood-Smith put together a complex “script” mapping out all of the plot points, environments, characters that make up this surreal version of his real life. Musically, Haywood-Smith wrote and performed a bulk of the track’s instrumentations, but the LP has notable appearances from Canadian contemporaries Ami Cheon and McKinley Dixon, and fellow Manitoban musician Kayla Fernandes who fronts the doom-metal band Vagina Witchcraft. Despite the culturally homogenous nature of his hometown, Haywood-Smith takes inspiration from a wide range of Black performers and artists working in all genres and eras. “This album felt like I was making something that I would want my younger self to hear.”
Born and raised in the Canadian prairies, JayWood has captured Haywood-Smith’s journey of self-discovery and heartache through unique songwriting since 2015. After the loss of his mother in 2019 and a global standstill with multiple social crises throughout 2020, Haywood-Smith yearned for forward momentum. “The idea of looking back to go forward became a really big thing for me—hence the title, ‘Slingshot,’” Haywood-Smith explains. Feeling disconnected from his past and ancestry after the death of a parent, Haywood-Smith made a conscious effort to better understand his identity and unique Black experience living in the predominantly white province of Manitoba. Slingshot is a self-portrait of JayWood at his surface and his depths, merging fantasy scenarios, personal anecdotes, and infectious pop and dance instrumentals.
Brooklyn-based musician Grace Ives presents “Loose,” her debut release on her new label True Panther/Harvest. This is her first new piece of music and video since 2019’s 2nd, an immediate pop record that found critical acclaim (and won over the likes of Grimes and Khalid). Ives wrote and did initial production of “Loose” at her home in Brooklyn and then teamed up with co-producer Justin Raisen (Yves Tumor, Charli XCX). Despite the song’s somewhat self-effacing lyrics – “Oh what a loser sound // I let out when I hit the ground // I never squeal like that // I need some respite, please” – “Loose” oozes confidence. The song is grounded in familiar sonics, but “Loose” is an elevated Ives. “Living in a bed bug infested apartment, withdrawing from SSRIs, not sleeping,” says Ives about where she was mentally and physically when she wrote the song. “There’s nowhere to go but up.” WATCH “LOOSE” VIDEO
Music has always followed Grace Ives – she was raised in New York City by creative parents (her dad is a cinematographer and her mother worked in music), and when she was younger, she was inspired by the sounds of Brittany Spears and Rihanna. A brief stint at MICA in Baltimore and a three year study at SUNY Purchase led to Grace starting to perform, slowly winning over a crowd that has only grown more insatiable. Most recently, Ives opened for Remi Wolf, bringing her infectious songs to a new audience. “Loose” is the first taste of much more to come.
Flasher – the duo of guitarist Taylor Mulitz and drummer Emma Baker – present the title track and accompanying video for their forthcoming album, Love Is Yours, out June 17th on Domino. “‘Love Is Yours’ is about the roller-coaster highs and lows of a long-term relationship—the kind where a conversation can feel like a tripwire, with subtextual clues that offer the promise of reward if correctly decoded,” the band explains. The accompanying video, directed by Camilla Smura (who also created the video for lead single “Sideways”), “is an homage to National Treasure, because much like a treasure room hidden beneath Trinity Church, love that endures is ‘the greatest adventure history has ever revealed.’”
Following their acclaimed 2018 debut, Constant Image, Love is Yours steps up the ambition and reaches for the horizon. It was recorded in Washington, D.C. with long-time friend Owen Wuerker, who also helped flesh out the instrumentation by contributing additional bass, percussion, synths, and guitar. Rather than binding the duo to its past – to geography, old habits, or trusted sounds – the familiar environment proved liberating. Baker and Mulitz shared vocal duties, tweaked tempos, structures, and dynamics accordingly. They toyed with genre, melody, and texture. The resulting record is ablaze with mood, melody, and carefully threaded hooks, finding the band foregrounding the pop sensibilities that had always been present in their previous releases. It retains the attitude that was fundamental to the band’s DIY roots, but cuts loose a touch of the angst. Though the songs process disillusionment and loss, the music evokes warmth and optimism. It is their best record and also their most generous. Kicking off in June, Flasher will bring their live show across North America. Tickets for all dates are on sale now and a full list can be found below.
FLASHER TOUR DATES Fri. June 17 – Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong Sat. June 18 – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right Mon. June 20 – Richmond, VA @ The Camel Tue. June 21 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle (Backroom) Wed. June 22 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl Thu. June 23 – Nashville, TN @ Third Man Records Fri. June 24 – Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR Pub Sat. June 25 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle Mon. June 27 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Bag Tue. June 28 – Toronto, ON @ The Baby G Wed. June 29 – Montreal, QC @ L’Esco Thu. June 30 – Providence, RI @ AS220 Fri. July 1 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
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Dumb Numbers and the Melvins join forces for one of the season’s most unusual releases, a three-song single, dubbed the Broken Pipe EP (April 29, Joyful Noise Recordings), which arrives via a sawblade-shaped, limited-edition vinyl 12-inch.
The collection, which is not the first time the musicians have partnered together (see their 2015 JNR split series), also finds The Jesus Lizard’s David Yow lending his vocals to the track, “So-Called Solid Objects,” and longtime Melvins’ production partner, Toshi Kasai, remixing the song “Harvel.”
“I’m severely honoured to work with Buzz and Dale on this release,” says Dumb Numbers’ Adam Harding. “I actually wrote one of the songs in 1997 after seeing the Melvins play in my hometown of Geelong, Australia. I never dreamed that 20 years later I would get to record it with them.”
Chicago band Horsegirl have had an electric start to 2022 beginning with the announcement of their debut album, Versions of Modern Performance, out June 3rd via Matador. The trio were dubbed the “champions of SXSW 2022” by NME, and won the Grulke Prize for Developing U.S. Act before touring the Northeast, including a sold out New York City debut at Market Hotel. Today, they continue on that trajectory with the release of new single and lyric video, “World of Pots and Pans.” Following the propulsive “Anti-glory,” “World of Pots and Pans” has a rough, blown-out pop charm. The band elaborates: “‘World of Pots and Pans’ is the first love song Horsegirl has ever written—or the closest thing to it. We wrote it in Penelope’s basement while preparing to leave for our first ever tour. The lyrics, inspired by the misinterpretation of a Television Personalities lyric, imagine a (possibly unrequited) romance unfolding through references to Tall Dwarfs, Belle & Sebastian, and The Pastels.“We made the lyric video in a couple hours. The three of us had a fully formed vision of what it should look like and were able to quickly execute the real-time ‘animation’ in only two takes. It feels special to showcase our creative chemistry, and Nora was able to finally carry out her childhood dreams of making an OK Go (ish) type video.”
Penelope Lowenstein (guitar, vocals), Nora Cheng (guitar, vocals), and Gigi Reece (drums) – the best friends comprising Horsegirl – do everything collectively, from songwriting to trading vocal duties and swapping instruments to sound and visual art design. Reece and Cheng, college freshmen, and Lowenstein, a high school senior, learned to play—and met—through the significant network of Chicago youth arts programs. The warmth and strength of their bond crackles through every second of their debut. Horsegirl recorded Versions of Modern Performance at Chicago’s Electrical Audio with John Agnello (Kurt Vile, The Breeders, Dinosaur Jr.). One can hear elements of the ‘80s and ‘90s independent music the band love so deeply and sincerely—the scuzzy melodicism of what used to be called “college rock,” the cool, bubbly space-age sheen of the ‘90s vamps on lounge and noir; the warm, noisy roar of shoegaze; the economical hooks and rhythms of post-punk. There’s even a bit of no wave mixed in for good measure. But as Horsegirl fuse all of this together, it feels not like a pastiche or a hacky retread but something as playful and unique as its predecessors. With lyrics intentionally impressionistic and open-ended, and a sound that ranges with joy and enthusiasm across a range of styles, Versions of Modern Performance offers many pathways. Horsegirl will tour Europe and North America this summer following a special record release show in Chicago with other young, local bands on Sunday, June 5th. They will return to New York on August 10th to play the Bowery Ballroom.
Horsegirl Tour Dates (new dates in bold) Sun. May 29 – Allston, MA @ Boston Calling Festival Sun. Jun. 5 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall (RECORD RELEASE SHOW) ^ Fri. Jun. 10 – Giessen, DE @ Stadt ohne Meer Sun. Jun. 12 – Mannheim, DE @ Maifield Derby Thu. Jun. 16 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix Bar Fri. Jun. 17 – Paris, FR @ Pop Up Du Label Sun. Jun. 19 – London, UK @ Paper Dress Vintage (EARLY SHOW) – SOLD OUT Sun. Jun. 19 – London, UK @ Paper Dress Vintage (LATE SHOW) – SOLD OUT Tue. Jun. 21 – Manchester, UK @ YES (Basement) Wed. Jun. 22 – London, UK @ Bermondsey Social Club – SOLD OUT Sun. Jun. 26 – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade Bristol Tue. Jun. 28 – Cologne, DE @ Bumann & Sohn Wed. Jun. 29 – Berlin, DE @ Monarch Fri. Jul. 1 – Denmark, DE @ Roskilde Festival 2022 Sat. Jul. 2 – Hamburg, DE @ Molotow Upstairs Fri. Jul. 15 – Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall * Sat. Jul. 16 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos * Sun. Jul. 17 – Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall * Tue. Jul. 19 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop Thu. Jul. 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon * Fri. Jul. 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo * Sat. Jul. 23 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room * Tue. Jul. 26 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line * Wed. Jul. 27 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon * Fri. Jul. 30 – Sat. Jul. 31 – Detroit, MI @ Mo Pop Festival Sat. July 31 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza Music Festival Tue. Aug. 2 – Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe * Wed. Aug. 3 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop * Fri. Aug. 5 – Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground * Sat. Aug. 6 – Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus * Wed. Aug. 10 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
^ w/ Lifeguard, Friko, Post Office Winter * w/ Dummy
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Today, Let’s Eat Grandma – the duo composed of songwriters, multi-instrumentalists, and vocalists Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth – share “Levitation,” the final single from their forthcoming album Two Ribbons, out April 29th on Transgressive Records. “Levitation” is accompanied by a surreal and ethereal video directed by Noel Paul, who also worked with the band on the video for “Happy New Year.” One of the most hopeful songs on the record, “Levitation” is a glimmering and expansive track, driven by soaring synths. Walton explains, “It’s about feeling all over the place, escaping to your imagination and being in a disorientating and surreal mental state, which can be both scary and elevating somehow – everything feels more creative and things look brighter. You’re with someone you’re close to, trying to reach out and connect to them, and even though you’re both struggling, you’re able to find comfort in one another, and have an absurdly funny yet meaningful time together. You begin to see some hope in your future again after a time when you’d started to lose sight of that.” In conjunction with today’s release, Let’s Eat Grandma announce their first tour in over three years which will see them playing shows across UK and North America in support of Two Ribbons. A full list of dates can be found below.
Co-produced by David Wrench and Let’s Eat Grandma, Two Ribbons is astonishing: a dazzling, heart-breaking, life-affirming and mortality-facing record that reveals the duo’s growing artistry and ability to parse intense feelings into lyrics so memorable you’d scribble them on your backpack. Following the critical acclaim for 2018’s I’m All Ears, Walton and Hollingworth began to find themselves as individuals, tastes differing here, reactions jarring there. There was a time when both felt a little trapped, and Two Ribbons treads a fine line expressing the most intimate feelings of, whilst making space for, the different perspectives of two women. It can be heard as a series of letters between the two of them, taking the place of conversations as they try to make sense of the rift in their relationships. The nature of Two Ribbons is cyclical; there is sadness, and pain, and joy, and hope – and the knowledge that no matter what detours we take, we are all connected.
Let’s Eat Grandma Tour Dates Sat. April 30 – Edinburgh, UK @ Stag and Dagger Festival Sun. May 1 – Glasgow, UK @ Stag and Dagger Festival Sun. July 24 – Southwold, UK @ Latitude Festival Thu. Oct. 6 – Cardiff, UK @ Clwb Ifor Bach Fri. Oct. 7 – Manchester, UK @ Yes (Pink Room) Sat. Oct. 8 – Leeds, UK @ Belgrrave MusicHall Thu. Oct. 13 – Newcastle, UK @ Cluny Fri. Oct. 14 – Nottingham, UK @ Metronome Sat. Oct. 15 – Birmingham, UK @ Space 54 Sun. Oct. 16 – Cambridge, UK @ Mash Tue. Oct. 18 – Bristol, UK @ Thekla Wed. Oct. 19 – London, UK @ Koko Fri. Oct. 21 – Brighton, UK @ Patterns Sat. Oct. 22 – Norwich, UK @ Epic Tue. Nov. 1 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage Wed. Nov. 2 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry Fri. Nov. 4 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall Sat. Nov. 5 – Boston, MA @ Sinclair Mon. Nov. 7 – Montreal, QB @ La Sala Rosa Tue. Nov. 8 – Toronto, CA @ The Axis Club Thu. Nov. 10 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop Fri. Nov. 11 – Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge Sat. Nov. 12 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry Mon. Nov. 14 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater Wed. Nov. 16 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge Fri. Nov. 18 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Sat. Nov. 19 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret Sun. Nov. 20 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge Tue. Nov. 22 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent Wed. Nov. 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater
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Today, Chicago trio Horsegirl announce their debut record, Versions of Modern Performance, out June 3rd on Matador, a summer tour, and present charged lead single/video, “Anti-glory.” Penelope Lowenstein (guitar, vocals), Nora Cheng (guitar, vocals), and Gigi Reece (drums) – the best friends comprising Horsegirl – do everything collectively, from songwriting to trading vocal duties and swapping instruments to sound and visual art design. The warmth and strength of their bond crackles through every second of their debut. With lyrics intentionally impressionistic and open-ended, and a sound that ranges with joy and enthusiasm across a range of styles, Versions of Modern Performance offers many pathways. Following last year’s one-off “Billy,” lead single “Anti-glory” is elastic and propulsive, entrancing listeners with a central call: “Dance / Dance / Dance / Dance / With me.” The accompanying video, directed by Erin Vassilopoulos, exudes confidence, putting Horsegirl front and center, their uncanny ability to layer sound on full display.
“We wrote Anti-glory almost by accident, while messing around with an old song during rehearsal. The song fell into place immediately, and looking back, we have no idea how we wrote it,” the band explains. “As always, this song and album are for Chicago, our friends, our friend’s bands, everyone who can play the guitar, and everyone who can’t play the guitar.” Watch Horsegirl’s Video for “Anti-glory”
The friendship of these three goes far beyond Horsegirl. Reece and Cheng, college freshmen, and Lowenstein, a high school senior, learned to play—and met—through the significant network of Chicago youth arts programs, and they have their own mini-rock underground, complete with zine distros, that they describe as somewhat separate from the “adult shows” that take place at bars and DIY spaces they don’t have access to. They’re exultant about their friends’ talent, noting that any of the bands from that scene could have been (or might still be!) plucked up the way they were.
Versions of Modern Performance was recorded with John Agnello (Kurt Vile, The Breeders, Dinosaur Jr.) at Chicago’s Electrical Audio. “It’s our debut bare-bones album in a Chicago institution with a producer who we feel like really respected what we were trying to do,” the band says. Across the record, Horsegirl expertly play with texture, shape and shade, showcasing their fondness for improvisation and experimentation. One can hear elements of the ‘80s and ‘90s independent music the band love so deeply and sincerely—the scuzzy melodicism of what used to be called “college rock,” the cool, bubbly space-age sheen of the ‘90s vamps on lounge and noir; the warm, noisy roar of shoegaze; the economical hooks and rhythms of post-punk. There’s even a bit of no wave mixed in for good measure. But as Horsegirl fuse all of this together, it feels not like a pastiche or a hacky retread but something as playful and unique as its predecessors. They’re best understood as part of a continuum, but they’re building something for themselves.
Horsegirl will tour North America this summer, playing their first ever shows in most cities across the country. This all kicks off with a special record release show at Thalia Hall in Chicago on Sunday, June 5th. Next week, Horsegirl head to SXSW before their debut performances in Philadelphia, Washington, DC and New York City. Full dates are listed below, and tickets for newly announced shows go on sale this Friday, March 11th at 10am local time. Watch Horsegirl’s Video for “Billy”
Horsegirl Tour Dates: (new shows in bold) Wed. March 16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – FLOODfest @ Mohawk @ 2:00pm Wed. March 16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – Roskilde Festival @ Cheer Up Charlie’s @ 10:00pm Thu. March 17 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – SX San Jose @ Hotel San Jose Thu. March 17 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – Gorilla vs. Bear x Luminelle @ Seven Grand @ 11:15pm Sat. March 19 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA Sun. March 20 – Washington, DC @ DC9 Tue. March 22 – Brooklyn, NY @ Market Hotel Sun. May 29 – Allston, MA @ Boston Calling Festival Sun. Jun. 5 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall (RECORD RELEASE SHOW) ^ Fri. Jun. 10 – Giessen, DE @ Stadt ohne Meer Sun. Jun. 12 – Mannheim, DE @ Maifield Derby Thu. Jun. 16 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix Bar Fri. Jun. 17 – Paris, FR @ Pop Up Du Label Sun. Jun. 19 – London, UK @ Paper Dress Vintage (EARLY SHOW) Sun. Jun. 19 – London, UK @ Paper Dress Vintage (LATE SHOW) Tue. Jun. 21 – Manchester, UK @ YES (Basement) Wed. Jun. 22 – London, UK @ Bermondsey Social Club Sun. Jun. 26 – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade Bristol Tue. Jun. 28 – Cologne, DE @ Bumann & Sohn Wed. Jun. 29 – Berlin, DE @ Monarch Fri. Jul. 1 – Denmark, DE @ Roskilde Festival 2022 Sat. Jul. 2 – Hamburg, DE @ Molotow Upstairs Fri. Jul. 15 – Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall * Sat. Jul. 16 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos * Sun. Jul. 17 – Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall * Tue. Jul. 19 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop Thu. Jul. 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon * Fri. Jul. 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo * Sat. Jul. 23 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room * Tue. Jul. 26 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line * Wed. Jul. 27 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon * Fri. Jul. 30 – Sat. Jul. 31 – Detroit, MI @ Mo Pop Festival Tue. Aug. 2 – Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe * Wed. Aug. 3 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop * Fri. Aug. 5 – Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground * Sat. Aug. 6 – Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus *
^ w/ Lifeguard, Friko, Post Office Winter * w/ Dummy
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El Ten Eleven, who recently announced the March 4 arrival of New Year’s Eve via Joyful Noise Recordings, have released a third single from the forthcoming collection: “The Time Knife” (https://lnk.to/TheTimeKnife).
Kristian Dunn explains how the TV show, “The Good Place,” influenced the track: “A character named Chidi has just returned from an interdimensional trip that only lasted a moment and, overwhelmed, says, ‘I just saw a trillion different realities folding onto each other like thin sheets of metal forming a single blade.’ Ted Danson’s character responds, saying, ‘Yeah, yeah, the time knife, we’ve all seen it.’ My wife and I were watching this together and for whatever reason this struck us as so funny we couldn’t stop laughing. This song is a combination of my experience with my wife (and experiences, journeys, really, generally with her) and Chidi’s journey.”
“The Time Knife” is the third preview of the forthcoming collection, with the Los Angeles-based duo previously sharing “Meta Metta” (https://youtu.be/GpqP72YYfJc), a performance clip was filmed at The Cube in Los Angeles, and the title track (https://youtu.be/8bQGY9cBpIo).
“New Year’s Eve is a reference to guarded optimism about what is to come. At the time, it seemed like our national divisiveness might be waning and the end of the pandemic was near. But of course that’s not how it turned out,” said Dunn upon news of the forthcoming album’s release. “That’s what New Year’s Eves are. You think it’s gonna be a fun night, but usually it’s disappointing at the end.”
Over the course of 20 years and 11 albums, El Ten Eleven continue to redefine the potential of bass guitar and drums. With an arsenal of pedals, labyrinthine arrangements, and a deft use of looping, Dunn (bass) and Tim Fogarty (drums) create two-man symphonies. With New Year’s Eve, the duo melds electrifying disco grooves with their tried-and-true experimental rock atmospherics.
El Ten Eleven Tour Dates:
Apr 6: Omaha, NE Slowdown^
Apr 7: St. Paul, MN Turf Club^
Apr 8: Chicago, IL Chop Shop^
Apr 9: Grand Rapids, MI Pyramid Scheme^
Apr 10: Indianapolis, IN HiFi^
Apr 13: Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom^
Apr 14: Pittsburgh, PA Thunderbird^
Apr 15: Washington, DC Union Stage^
Apr 16: Philadelphia, PA Milkboy^
Apr 20: Rochester, NY Bugjar^
Apr 21: Rochester, NY Bugjar^
Apr 22: Boston, MA Paradise^+
Apr 23: Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Made^+
* Sego supports
& Mylets supports
^ Cedric Noel supports
+ A Beacon School supports
European tour dates:
May 12: Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast
May 13: Leeds, UK @ Boom
May 14-15: London, UK @ Portals Festival
May 15: Bristol, UK @ The Crofters Right
May 17: Paris, FR @ Supersonic
May 18: Den Bosch, NL @ Willem Twee Poppodium
May 19-20: Copenhagen, DK @ A Colossal Weekend
May 22: Berlin, DE @ Prachtwerk
May 23: Hamburg, DE @ Indra
May 24: Cologne, DE @ Helios37
May 27: Metz, FR @ Young Team Festival
Dunn (bass/guitar) and Fogarty (drums) have flourished outside the accepted norms of rock orthodoxy, releasing eight full-length albums, four EPs and performing over 750 live shows. Utilizing inventive arrangements and a masterful use of looping, El Ten Eleven have been noted for their ability to create a sound much bigger than their individual parts. SF Weekly said of the pair’s live performance: “watching El Ten Eleven play is something like watching two superheroes do their thing.” Consequence of Sound called their music “euphoric,” KEXP described their output as “transcendent” and Under The Radar declared the pair’s unique style a “buoyant brand of post-rock.”
