“Here McCombs reaches fully toward the idea of songwriting as myth-making. Pulling from a deeper heredity of mavericks (Guy Clark) and marginals (Bill Callahan); jesters (Warren Zevon), sweet-natured acerbics (Randy Newman) and loners (Elliott Smith), McCombs is an analogous anomaly — a statesman with a penchant for the long, spooling yarn. He revels in the album as cinema, as cosmos, as something that should be written and left for rumination.” — NPR Music’s “First Listen”
“McCombs is no cheap nostalgia merchant, and is rooted far more in earthy post-punk than jam-bandwagoning. But dude’s quite a guitarist, and here’s hoping he stretches things on tour behind his forthcoming LP – it’s a doozy.” — Rolling Stone
“Tip of the Sphere represents McCombs’ practised skills as a shaper of his own world, with pride in his craft, a deep respect for tradition and the drive to refresh it via his own idiosyncratic iteration. It’s a combination likely to seal those ‘finest songwriter of his generation’ nominations.”
— Uncut, 9/10 Album of the Month
Cass McCombs will release Tip of the Sphere, his ninth full-length album, on February 8th via ANTI-. Ahead of its release, the album is now available to stream via NPR Music’s “First Listen.” Additionally, McCombs shares “Absentee,” a track infused with waltzing organ and subtle saxophone. In “Absentee,” McCombs ruminates on ancestral memories of British, colonialist absentee landlords during the Irish Potato Famine, on longing, hunger and untended places in the heart. Cass plays multiple characters in a play created with cast shadows, masks, puppets and analog visual effects created by Lydia Greer and Caryl Kientz of Facing West Shadow Theatre.
Stream Tip of the Sphere via NPR Music –
https://n.pr/2RWfYPD
Watch “Absentee” Video –
https://youtu.be/4ujcP9S1Gmc
Tip of the Sphere presents an artist trying to make sense of it all through a relentless, ever searching creative process. Throughout, he floats through a suite of songs driven by a journeying mysticism and dark grace. While most of his albums have been pieced together in different studios over an extended period of time, Tip of the Sphere was recorded quickly and with a strong sense of purpose at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn. This new approach for McCombs brought his songs a raw immediacy and a special balance of compassion and experimentation with the intent of making a more consistent statement. On “Absentee,” he’s joined by Otto Hauser (drums), Dan Horne (bass), Dan Lead (pedal steel), Frank LoCrasto (hammond organ), and Sam Griffin Owens (saxophone).
As previously announced, the ‘Castillo de la Esfera,’ created by fellow Northern California artist and contemporary Tahiti Pehrson as an homage to Brion Gysin’s dream machine, is featured inside the vinyl edition of Tip of the Sphere. Watch the Tip of the Sphere Instructional Video & Castillo de la Esfera Assembly, narrated by Robyn Hitchock,here.
Watch/Listen/Share:
“Sleeping Volcanoes” Stream – https://youtu.be/aJd_bd9vBFc
“Estrella” Stream – https://youtu.be/sJTR-d8X2jk
“The Great Pixley Train Robbery” Video – https://youtu.be/tJweioHk6t0
Pre-order Tip of the Sphere –
https://ffm.to/cm_tipofthesphere
Cass McCombs Tour Dates:
Thu. Feb. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Amoeba Records
Mon. March 4 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage *
Tue. March 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live *
Thu. March 7 – Brooklyn, NY @ Murmrr
Fri. March 8 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
Sat. March 9 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair *
Mon. March 11 – Toronto, ON @ Horsehoe Tavern *
Tue. March 12 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom*
Thu. March 14 – Nashville, TN @ EXIT/IN *
Fri. March 15 – Indianapolis, IN @ HiFi *
Sat. March 16 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall *
Sun. March 17 – Milwaukee, WI @ The BackRoom at Collectivo *
Mon. March 18 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
Wed. March 20 – Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre *
Sat. March 23 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The State Room *
Mon. March 25 – Vancouver, BC @ St. James *
Tue. March 26 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey *
Wed. March 27 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater *
Fri. March 29 – Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s *
Sat. March 30 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre *
Sun. March 31 – Las Vegas, NV@ The Beauty Bar*
Tue. April 2 – Santa Barbara, CA @ SOHo *
Thu. April 4 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s Alley *
Fri. April 5 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore *
Thu. April 25 – Marfa, TX@ Marfa Myths
Sat. May 25 – Madrid, SP @ Tomavistas Festival
Tue. May 28 – Prague, CZ @ MeetFactory
Wed. May 29 – Berlin, DE @ Frannz-Club
Thur. May 30 – Copenhagen, DK @ Alice
Fri. May 31 – Hamburg, DE @ Nochtspeicher
Sat. June 1 – Gent, BE @ DOK Box
Mon. June 3 – Amsterdam, NE @ Paradiso Nord
Tue. June 4 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
Thur. June 6 – London, UK @ EartH
Fri. June 7 – Helsinki, FI @ Sideways Festival
Fri. Aug. 30 – Mon. Sep. 2 – Larmer Tree Gardens, UK @ End of the Road Festival
* = with Sam Evian
Keep your mind open.
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