Tim Heidecker – 7th Level Music

Tim Heidecker announces new album due October 18th and releases its first single – “Well’s Running Dry.”

Tim Heidecker announces his new album, Slipping Away, out October 18th via Bloodshot Records, and releases its lead single/video “Well’s Running Dry.” After the breakthroughs of 2020’s wistfully lush Fear of Death, and 2022’s High School, whose tales of nostalgia were never quite as distant as they seemed, the multi-hyphenate comedian and songwriter Heidecker has reached a new peak with Slipping Away, his warmest and fullest record to date. While all of his albums are concept records to some degree, this one tells a story on a larger scale, offering an imagistic framework that allows for some of his brightest melodies, heaviest themes (the feeling of before the fall and after), and most direct and vulnerable lyrics.

While on his first combined comedy and music tour in 2022, and his first time performing his own material with a full band every night, Heidecker noticed a recurring response to his lyrics among his devoted fanbase. “Especially people my age, maybe a little younger,” he recalls, “They would come up to me and say, ‘That is how I feel. And it’s nice to know you feel that way, too.’” Where his celebrated work in film and television is often an act of complex, surrealist worldbuilding, the increasingly tender and expertly crafted singer-songwriter material Heidecker releases under his own name is built to encourage these person-to-person connections.

Working with The Very Good Band — Eliana Athayde on bass, vocals and additional production; Josh Adams on drums; Vic Berger on keys; and Connor “Catfish” Gallaher on guitar and pedal steel; alongside a contribution from Tim’s daughter Amelia — Heidecker wrote a series of songs that tap into universal anxieties, familiar settings, and, occasionally, a blast of apocalyptic unease. If he were to perform them solo acoustic, they might sound like folk songs, with their instantly hummable melodies, singalong choruses, and unexpected ability to zoom out far beyond their initial premises. Even the simple act of making music, as portrayed in the cleverly constructed writer’s block anthem “Well’s Running Dry,” can lead to an earnest reflection on insecurity and aging. “As soon as I wrote that, I worried that it’s not cool to talk about,” Heidecker says. “But a second later, I thought—well that’s challenging and exciting. Let’s push past that.”

Watch the Video for “Well’s Running Dry”

Slipping Away is crafted like a killer live set, building in emotional impact and intensity. Heidecker refers to the album as a true group project, a euphoric experience that helped turn his songs into living, breathing things. “My favorite records are the ones that were just recorded in a room with a band playing,” he says, citing classic-rock landmarks from Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and The Band. “And that’s what we did.” Across the album, Heidecker and Athayde often take the roles of duet partners, occasionally assuming a Gram-and-Emmylou dynamic with her quavering, empathetic harmony.

Heidecker describes working with the band on Slipping Away as a personal breakthrough in his career. “Having been doing quote-unquote ‘entertainment’ for 20 years now in different forms, it was a revitalizing experience to be out of my comfort zone a little bit. It was a learning opportunity.” After working with indie luminaries like Mac DeMarco, Weyes Blood, and Father John Misty, Heidecker is in a rarefied field of artists who refuse to grow complacent, and creative leaps like Slipping Away exemplify his devotion to the craft. Quoting Paul McCartney, Heidecker ascribes to the idea that “work begets inspiration” and each new project helps lead to the one just beyond it. “People ask me a lot about the difference between making music and comedy,” he says. “I finally got to a point where I was like, ‘Let’s stop thinking about these things as genres.’ It comes out in different formats but hopefully it all becomes one big thing that I’m making. I think it’s fairly united.”

This August and September, Tim Heidecker & The Very Good Band will support Waxahatchee with Snail Mail on a run of east coast dates, including a co-headlining show with Snail Mail at SummerStage in New York. A full list of shows can be found below, and tickets can be purchased here.

Pre-order Slipping Away

Slipping Away Tracklist
1. Well’s Running Dry
2. Trippin’ (Slippin’)
3. Like I Do
4. Dad Of The Year
5. Bottom of the 8th
6. Something Somewhere
7. Bows and Arrows
8. Hey, Would You Call My Mom For Me?
9. I Went Into Town
10. Bells Are Ringing

Tim Heidecker & The Very Good Band Tour Dates
Sun. Aug. 11 – Carnation, WA @ THING
Tue. Aug. 27 – New York, NY @ Central Park Summerstage ∞
Thu. Aug. 29 – South Deerfield, MA @ Tree House Summer Stage %
Fri. Aug. 30 – Portland, ME @ State Theater %
Sat. Aug. 31 – Accord, NY @ Arrowood Farms %
Sun. Sept. 1 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony Summerstage %
Wed. Sept. 4 – Charlottesville, VA @ Ting Pavillion %
Thu. Sept. 5 – Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Music Festival
Fri. Sept. 6 – Vienna, VA @ Filene Center – Wolf Trap %
Sat. Sept 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore ^

∞ w/ Snail Mail & Fenne Lily
% w/ Waxahatchee & Snail Mail
^ w/ Waxahatchee & Gladie

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Tim Heidecker – High School

Tim Heidecker returns with another solid album of fun introspection, soulful singing, biting lyrics, and perspective-changing tunes on his new album, High School. As the title indicates, many of the songs reflect back on his youth and lessons he learned (or didn’t) from that time.

“Buddy” is a song written to his youthful self (“Nothing ever went your way. You told me that things would be better someday.”) and how he wishes some knowledge could be imparted either way to his past self while his parents argue downstairs. “Chillin’ in Alaska” brings in some honky-tonk flavor in a song about appreciating what you have, and “Future Is Uncertain” is a song about staying present – an important thing for all of us, and a recurring them on this album of Heidecker investigating his nostalgia for an era that he’s come to realize wasn’t that great.

This goes further on “Get Back Down to Me,” in which he states, “I’ve been worrying about everybody else but myself. People’s lives, they just slide right into my head.” and vowing to find his own joy – although he apologizes for doing so (“I’m sorry. I’m gonna hit the road. Gonna see some fans and touch some sand.”). He admits on the next track that “I’ve Been Losing,” (“Wondering if tomorrow’s going to be better.”) again addressing how things seemed to have been better in his past but knowing in his heart that he’s not entirely sure what he sees in his rear view mirror is correct. He believes “the road up ahead will be filled with looking back” and hopes “the memories will surround him like a warm bubble bath.” He wants to let the past slide away from him, but can’t quite manage it.

“Punch in the Gut” is a tale of a kid coerced into a parking lot fight outside his place of employment and paying the price force it – even after he wins. “Stupid Kid” is a fun tale of Heidecker watching Neil Young perform on TV and being inspired to play music of his own (“It seemed so easy that even a stupid kid like me could do it.”)…and then being stunned to hear Young’s album version of “Harvest Moon” was different on the album than it was live.

Heidecker teams up with Kurt Vile on “Sirens of Titan,” which includes some synth bass and beats to throw you for a loop. It almost sounds like a 1980s Don Henley song. “I’m a German Catholic, an Irish spastic,” Heidecker sings about growing up as “a B-minus kid” sneaking beers in his parents’ basement and wishing he could start a rock band with his friends on “What Did We Do with Our Time?” He wonders where the time of his youth went, and was it spent on anything worthwhile? In contrast, he can’t help but wonder if what he’s doing now is worthwhile either. On the closer, “Kern River,” Heidecker finds some peace in his memories and in the present (the only place and time in where those memories can exist).

High School is full of raw honesty and nostalgia, delivering lessons on presence, impermanence, and attachment along the way.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Tim Heidecker – Fear of Death

I’m not sure if Tim Heidecker is best known as a stand-up comic or a musician. I first heard of him when I heard his new record, Fear of Death. I then learned he’s also a stand-up comic, and I wasn’t surprised. The album’s themes of death, existential dread, ennui, and, yes, light found in darkness, are all prime subjects for comedians and Heidecker’s perceptive wit is on every track. Collaborating with members of Weyes Blood, The Lemon Twigs, and Spacebomb on the record doesn’t hurt either.

A classic country / Americana sound permeates the entire record. “Prelude to Feeling” opens the album with the instruction (or is it a warning) that “You’re about to feel.” It’s true. The record is one to make you think. “Come Away with Me” is a tale of Heidecker pleading to his lover (voiced by Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering, who provides dual and backing vocals throughout the record) to leave the hot and smelly city to live in the country with him. It’s a fun little rocker.

“Grass is gettin’ browner, trees are fallin’ in the heat…We’re movin’ backwards,” they sing on “Backwards” – a song about devolution and how we should be helping each other instead of leaving the planet a dried-out husk for those to come after us. Despite this grim outlook, the song is upbeat and full of great slide guitar.

The title track has the great line of “Fear of death is keeping me alive.” as garage-rock guitar bounces around in the background and Heidecker proclaims he’s done partying and growing. “I’m moving on, I’m getting out. I can’t take any more lies,” he sings on “Someone Who Can Handle You,” a heartbreaker in which Heidecker finally gives up on a relationship that has worn him down to the bone.

“Nothing” might be the most gothic song you hear this year as Heidecker and Mering sing about there being nothing but a black void after we shuffle off this mortal coil. Heidecker tries to juggle Hollywood bullcrap while thinking all the time that none of it matters in the end. “Say Yes” opens with a CCR-like groove and then melts into a psychedelic bit of great bedroom rock as Heidecker pleads with his lover to stay the night with him.

The big and bold, and funny, “Property” is a tale of how cemeteries will eventually be turned into rental properties, shopping malls, and golf courses, because the dead won’t mind and by then we, the living, won’t care about the dead anymore. “Little Lamb” is almost a lullaby over Heidecker claiming he’s moving on from a lover because he’s tired of being fawned over and needs the time alone.

His cover of “Let It Be” is an alt-country delight and a moment of calm introspection for Heidecker as he muses on his mortality. “Don’t want money, don’t want fame, don’t want to be a household name,” Heidecker claims, but quickly makes the disclaimer that he truly doesn’t want those things without love in a Jackson Browne-like toe-tapping rocker. Mering takes lead vocals on “Oh How We Drift Away,” a haunting. lush song about how even good friends can drift apart over time.

It’s a lovely record that shows how accomplished a performer Heidecker is and embraces not only mortality, but also the mortality of institutions. It’s an album about impermanence, which everyone needs to embrace sooner or later. Why not do it sooner and enjoy life in the present? Heidecker’s on board.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]