How Will I Live Without A Body? was produced and recorded by Loma in England, Texas, and Germany, mixed by Dan Duszynski and mastered by Steve Fallone at Sterling Sound in New York. All songs were composed by the group—with a few nudges from a unique AI (see below).
 
How Will I Live Without a Body? is a gorgeous, unique, and oddly comforting album about partnership, loss, regeneration, and fighting the feeling that we’re all in this alone. Many of its songs have a feeling of restless motion; faceless characters drift through meetings and partings, tangling together and slipping away.

Throughout, the core of Loma’s sound remains intact: earthy, organic and deeply human, anchored by Cross’s cool, clear voice. Loma’s previous album, Don’t Shy Away, was galvanized by the encouragement of Brian Eno. This time, they were inspired by another hero, Laurie Anderson, who offered a chance to work with an AI trained on her work. Meiburg sent two photos; Anderson’s AI responded with two haunting poems. “We used fragments of these poems in ‘How It Starts’ and ‘Affinity’,” he says. “And then Dan noticed that one of AI-Laurie’s lines, ‘How will I live without a body?’ would be a perfect name for the album, since we’d nearly lost sight of each other in the recording process.” [See longer bio below].
 
As for How Will I Live Without A Body?’s cover art, returning collaborator Lisa Cline took inspiration from the histories of “bog people,” human cadavers found naturally mummified in peat bogs. (From Wikipedia: “These “bodies” are both geographically and chronologically widespread, having been dated to between 8000 BCE and the Second World War.”).
 
How Will I Live Without A Body? is available to preorder on CD/LP/digitally worldwide from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com, and select independent stores in North America will receive the Loser edition on Transparent Smoke Vinyl. In the UK and Europe, LP preorders through Sub Pop’s new Mega Mart 2, and UK/EU Independent retailers will receive the Loser edition on Neon Orange Vinyl (All whilst stock lasts!)
 

January 2023, Dorset, UK. Snow is piled at the door, icy roads are closed, and Emily Cross is in a coffin—not a promising setting for a rebirth. But for Loma, this is where they bring their band back from the brink.
 
“It’s like a demon enters the room whenever we get together,” writer, singer, and instrumentalist Cross says of the struggle to bring new Loma music into the world. Following the release of their 2020 second album, Don’t Shy Away, Loma’s three members were cast around the globe, and the band—not for the first time—entered a deep sleep.
 
Multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Dan Duszynski remained in his studio in central Texas, but Cross, a UK citizen, moved to Dorset, and writer and instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg left the US for Germany to research a book. In the pandemic years, being in the same room was impossible, and attempts to start a new record faltered.
 
“We got lost,” admits Meiburg, “and stayed that way.” The trio’s personal lives diverged, and remote sessions didn’t gel; a post-pandemic reunion in Texas was cut to a few days by an illness, and a pile of half-finished tracks was an unruly mess. The following winter, in an attempt to salvage the record and the band, Cross suggested they regroup in the UK, in the tiny stone house—once a coffin-maker’s workshop—where she works as an end-of-life doula. With minimal recording gear and few instruments, Loma turned two whitewashed rooms into a makeshift studio, using a coffin woven from willow branches as a vocal booth.
 
It was a turning point. “There was a sense of, well, this is it,” Meiburg recalls. “And when the ice storm swept in I thought: here we go again, even the elements are against us. But sitting in our heavy coats around a little electric radiator, we realized how much we’d missed each other—and that just being together was precious.” 
 
They scrapped much of what they’d made, and let a new place set a new course. The first two Loma albums featured the sounds of Texan animals and landscapes; this time, the one-lane roads, hedgerows and dark skies of Dorset gave the new songs an ineffable but unmistakable Englishness. The band used the ruin of a 12th-century chapel as a reverb chamber—surprising hillwalkers who peeked in to find them singing to no one—and the sounds of Cross’s chilly workshop wormed their way into the recording: a leaky pipe, a drummer’s brushes on a metal lampshade, voices left on an ancient answering machine.
 
What emerged was How Will I Live Without A Body?: a gorgeous, unique, and oddly comforting album about partnership, loss, regeneration, and fighting the feeling that we’re all in this alone. Many of its songs have a feeling of restless motion; faceless characters drift through meetings and partings, tangling together and slipping away. “I Swallowed A Stone” is like a nightmare with a happy ending; “How It Starts” and “Broken Doorbell” reflect on the challenge (and necessity) of wrestling with agoraphobia.  Though the record nods to the trio’s separate lives— a German percussion ensemble, a pair of Texan owls, and the surf at Chesil Beach make guest appearances—the core of Loma’s sound remains intact: earthy, organic and deeply human, anchored by Cross’s cool, clear voice.
 
Most artists want their records to be listened to as a whole. But with Loma it’s particularly rewarding, and How Will I Live Without A Body? reveals itself more with every listen. Songs that begin as riddles swim into focus when listened to in sequence; images return and interact in unexpected ways, and something like a narrative begins to form. It’s also a record of two distinct halves: A compelling sense of wandering engulfs the A-side, as the trudging progress of opener ‘Please, Come In’ staggers and sways through succeeding tracks to the album’s centerpiece, ‘How It Starts’—which gathers strength and purpose, flooding the B-side with a hope that embraces darkness without surrendering to it.
 
Loma’s previous album, Don’t Shy Away, was galvanised by the unexpected encouragement (and eventual contributions) of Brian Eno. This time, they were inspired by another hero, Laurie Anderson, who offered a chance to work with an AI trained on her entire body of work. Meiburg sent a photo from his book-in-progress about the once and future life of Antarctica; Anderson’s AI responded with two haunting poems. “We used parts of them in a few songs,” he says. “And then Dan noticed that one of its lines, ‘How will I live without a body?’ would be a perfect name for the album, since we nearly lost sight of each other in the recording process.” Anderson, Meiburg adds, was happy for the band to use the title. “I think she was tickled that her AI doppelganger is running around naming other people’s records.”
 
But in the end, Loma’s efforts to reconnect with one another are the album’s central focus: What do you owe a shared past, when everyone and everything has changed? “Making this record tested us all,” says Duszynski. “I think that feeling was alchemized through the music.” Alchemized, because How Will I Live Without A Body? is by no means a stressed-out record: an undercurrent of deep calm runs through it. “Somehow, out of the chaos, we made something that sounds very relaxed,” Cross notes, mystified. But maybe ‘relaxed’ isn’t the right word. It’s more like a feeling of relief, of making it through a tough journey together. “I’ve never run a marathon,” Cross says. “But I can imagine it’s kind of what that feels like.” This is how it starts, to move again.

On Friday, June 7th, Man Man will release their new album, Carrot On Strings, on CD/LP/DSPs worldwide through Sub Pop Records.
 
Following the album’s lead offering, “Iguana,” comes the group’s striking new video for “Tastes Like Metal,” which was Directed by illustrator and filmmaker Joe Cappa.
 
Man Man’s Ryan Kattner shares: “With a little luck, a time machine, and a more accessible band name and face, this song has the potential to be the minor radio hit that finally helps fulfill my dreams of making it big in Japan.”
 
Click HERE to watch “Tastes Like Metal.” Disclaimer: Sub Pop and Man Man do not advocate or endorse the use of any of the drugs in this video.
 
As previously announced, Man Man has shared North American dates supporting Carrot On Strings. Click here for a complete list of shows.
 
Carrot On Strings is now available to preorder from Sub Pop.
LP preorders in North America from megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers, and in the UK/Europe from Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart) and select UK/EU independent retailers will receive the Loser Edition on Transparent Orange. All color vinyl versions are available while stock lasts.

Man Man

On May 24th, Australian group Girl and Girl will release their vibrant debut full-length, Call A Doctor, on CD/LP/DSP via Virgin Australia (AU/NZ) and Sub Pop (ROW.)   
 
Following the single release of “Hello” and “Mother” comes the new official video for “Oh Boy!”
 
Girl and Girl frontperson Kai James shares: “I’d had Oh Boy! half written for a few years before we got round to recording it. I really loved the first half and had kind of psyched myself out of finishing it. When it was finally demoed early last year, this big sort of chaotic, sprawling word vomit poured out of me that seemed to tie the whole thing up nicely, it’s brimming with joy and misery and sarcasm, all things girl and girl.”
 
Tayla Lauren directed the video. Click HERE to watch.
 
Girl and Girl will embark on a 20-date North American run opening for fellow Aussie band Royel Otis on April 23d at the Amsterdam Bar & Hall in St Paul, MN, with additional appearances at Eurokennees in France and End of the Road in the UK in July and August. These shows are not to be missed. If you need some proof, you can watch some reels that fans have posted here. See below for a complete list of shows.

Tue. Apr. 23 - St. Paul, MN - Amsterdam Bar & Hall *
WED. Apr. 24 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall  *
Fri. Apr. 26 - Toronto, ON -  Longboat Hall *
Sar. Apr. 27 - Columbus, OH - A&R Music Bar *
Sun. Apr. 28 - Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop *
Tue. Apr. 30 - New York, NY - Racket *
Wed. May 01 - New York, NY - Racket *
Thu. May 02 - Philadelphia, PA - Theater For The Living Arts *
Fri. May 03 - Washington, DC - The Howard *
Sat. May 04 - Carrboro, NC - Cats Cradle *
Wed. May 08 - Austin, TX - The Parish *
Thu. May 09 - Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves *
Sat. May 11 -Denver, CO -  The Perplexiplex at Meow Wolf *
   Wed. May 15 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel Lounge *
Thu. May 16 - Hollywood, CA - The Fonda Theater *
   Fri. May 17 - Santa Barbara, CA - Soho Restaurant & Music  Club *
Sat. May 18 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop *
Mon. May 20 - Portland, OR - The Aladdin Theater *
Tue. May 21 - Vancouver, BC - Fox Cabaret *
  Wed. May 22 - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theater *
Thu. Jul. 04 - Cravanche, FR - Les Eurokennees
Fri. Jul. 05 - Cravanche, FR - Les Eurokennees
Sat. Jul. 06- Cravanche, FR - Les Eurokennees
Sun. Jul. 07- Cravanche, FR - Les Eurokennees
Thu. Aug. 29 - Dorset, UK - End Of The Road
Fri. Aug. 30 - Dorset, UK - End Of The Road
Sat. Aug. 31 - Dorset, UK -End Of The Road
Sun. Sep. 01 - Dorset, UK -End Of The Road
 
* w/ Royel Otis
 

Call A Doctor is available to preorder now on CD/LP/DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers (US), select independent retail stores (EU/UK) & Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart) will receive the Loser Edition on White vinyl. All colored vinyl versions are available while stock lasts.

 “…every member of Girl and Girl is too young to have experienced the garage rock revivalism of Y2K firsthand, save Aunty Liss, the drummer who supports her nervy nephews in this band of Australian post-punk traditionalists. Fronted by the wiry Kai James — handsome and jittery, never reclusive — the group treated sacred post-punk texts as if they were a common language when they played the 13th Floor, giving their barbed hooks and sideways riffs real kick. They’re carrying a torch without succumbing to nostalgia or formalism, all because they’re intoxicated by the noise they make.”- [SXSW 2024 Show Review] RollingStone
  
“The band’s circuitous riffs feel reminiscent of early Car Seat Headrest – the type of material that could mint a future cult classic.” - [10 essential new acts you need to see at SXSW 2024] NME
 
“that’s Girl and Girl like a warped mix of Talking Heads, Rolling Blackouts and bits of post-punk but led by a man with a mullet and one of their aunts plays drums in the band. I enjoyed them, some good melodies. That was Girl and Girl with Hello.” - [SXSW Review] BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq
 
 “Brisbane four-piece Girl and Girl are ones to watch in the world of sharp-tongued raucous-riffed garage rock…Girl and Girl’s all too rare multigenerational collaboration brings a fresh angle on the post-Strokes garage rock sound.” - KUTX Radio
 
“Emotional mayhem that’s relatable, and very catchy.” - Rolling Stone (AU)
 
“There’s something special about this group…Their music has a raw and unfiltered feeling which elevates it far above your run-of-the-mill “indie” and gives it a near-euphoric flavour.” - [“Hello”]  Life Without Andy
 
“A perfect dose of indie – punk rock at its best.” - [“Hello”] Happy Mag

La Luz - the band led by Shana Cleveland – has today released their incredible new album News of The Universe, via Sub Pop. Unashamedly vulnerable, unabashedly feminine, and undeniably triumphant, News of the Universe is another knockout record from a band so reliably great that it has perhaps led people to overlook how pioneering La Luz really are: women of color in indie music forging their own path by following their own artistic star into galaxies beyond current musical trends, always led by an earnest belief in the cosmic power of love and a great riff. The album was a mentioned as an essential release by Bandcamp, an album of note out this week by Stereogum, a new and notable release from Brooklyn Vegan, was named as the “Album of the Week” by Post-Trash, amongst more. 

Today, La Luz also share the music video for the song that is truly the heart of the album, “Always In Love.” On the track and it’s music video, Shana Cleveland shares “To me this song is the heart of the album. I get emotional every time I hear it. Lyrically it’s about realizing that love is the only thing that matters and that it’s always a choice that I’m able to make. It’s hard to explain how huge that is, but if you get it you get it. In the guitar solo that closes the song I can hear myself blasting through all the fear and stress of the year before, the most difficult time of my life, and moving past all of that propelled by the dedication to live in love. The video for this song is inspired by the Japanese camp horror film House.” Watch the music video for “Always in Love” here. 

With a credo adapted from science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, an album title from a collection of metaphysical poetry, and an expansion in consciousness brought on by personal crisis, News of the Universe finds guitarist and songwriter Cleveland embracing a changing world with unconditional love. News of the Universe is also a record born of calamity, a work of dark, beautiful psychedelia reflecting Cleveland’s experience of having her world blown apart by a breast cancer diagnosis just two years after the birth of her son. 

La Luz will be touring North America, Europe, and the UK in support of News of the Universe, and the first run of dates will kick off May 23 in Barcelona. The band’s first show stateside is Record Release Party on May 30 at The Crocodile in Seattle, WA.  Their touring goes into full swing starting on September 26 with a show in Chicago, IL, stopping at Brooklyn’s Elsewhere on October 9, before concluding with a 2-night run at Lodge Room in Los Angeles, CA, on November 8 and 9. All shows are listed below.  Formed by Cleveland in 2012, La Luz is beloved for their ability to balance bedlam and bliss, each new record another fine-tuning of the band’s mix of swaggering riffs with angelic vocals borrowed from doo-wop and folk; a band so reliably great that it makes the huge step forward in confidence and sheer musicality that is News of the Universe all the more formidable. Cleveland, also a writer and painter, has developed into a truly original songwriter with her own canon of haunted psychedelia that, in recent years, has drawn upon the changing landscape around her rural California home for inspiration, notably on last year’s critically acclaimed solo release, Manzanita, a magical realist documentation of her pregnancy and early motherhood that appeared on many year-end lists.

Sonically, the record is all urgency. Songs trip over themselves as if trying to outrun the apocalypse. The powerful sense of openness that permeates News of the Universe is at least partially due to the fact that it is a record made entirely by women—from the performing, writing, and producing all the way through to the recording, engineering, and mastering. “There is something inherently and simultaneously sweet and brutal about womanhood,” says Cleveland. “That is something I hear on this record.”

Working with producer Maryam Qudus (Spacemoth), the all-female environment allowed Cleveland to feel safe tapping into difficult places and expressing hard emotions women are socialized to suppress. Unashamedly vulnerable, unabashedly feminine, and undeniably triumphant, News of the Universe is another knockout record from a band so reliably great that it has perhaps led people to overlook how pioneering La Luz really are: women of color in indie music forging their own path by following their own artistic star into galaxies beyond current musical trends, always led by an earnest belief in the cosmic power of love and a great riff. Never is that more true than on News of the Universe, which might be La Luz’s most brutal record to date but also their most blissful. After everything, how could it not?

La Luz Tour Dates

05/24 Madrid, ES @ Tomavistas Festival

05/25 London, UK @ Wide Awake Festival

05/30 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile (Record Release Show)

07/27 Portland, OR @ Project Pabst

08/30 Brighton, UK @ Brighton Psych Fest

08/31 Manchester, UK @ Manchester Psych Fest

09/01 Edinburgh, UK @ Edinburgh Psych Fest

09/03 Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew

09/05 Paris, FR @ Point Ephemere

09/06 Sart-Messire-Guillaume, BE @ SMG Music Fest

09/07 Asten-Heusden, NL @ Misty Fields Festival

09/08 Amsterdam, NL @ Indiestadt x Sugar Mountain @ Paradiso

09/10 Cologne, DE @ Bumann & SOHN

09/11 Hamburg, DE @ Prinzenbar

09/12 Berlin, DE @ Badehaus

09/13 Schorndorf, DE @ Manufaktur

09/14 Zürich, DE @ Bogen

09/26 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean

09/27 Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon

09/28 St. Paul, MM @ Turf Club

09/30 St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill

10/01 Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar

10/02 Nashville, TN @ The End

10/03 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade - Purgatory

10/04 Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall

10/05 Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall

10/06 Washington, DC @ The Atlantis

10/08 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s

10/09 Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere - Hall

10/10 Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall

10/11 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz

10/12 Toronto, ON @ Adelaide Hall

10/13 Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch 

10/28 Denver, CO @ Marquis

10/30 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge

10/31 Boise, ID @ The Olympic

11/03 Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl

11/06 Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s

11/07 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall

11/08 Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room

11/09 Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room

News of the Universe is available to preorder now on CD/LP/DSPs from Sub Pop. The album can be pre-ordered in North America from megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers, and the band’s website, and in Europe and the UK from independent retail stores, and Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart), with vinyl available on limited variants. All colored vinyl versions are available while stock lasts.

Light Verse is the new ten-track Iron & Wine album that features many highlights but none brighter than the Fiona Apple duet  “All in Good Time” which has been embraced by fans of both artists along with radio and critics.
 
Its official video, which is being shared today, translates the narrative of our two protagonists in the song through the eyes of a couple finding love in cinema and dance, with the help of some mischievous kids upending their day. It’s Singing In The Rain meets The Breakfast Club.
 
The “All In Good Time” video was filmed at The Pickwick Theater in Park Ridge, Illinois, and is directed by Jamie Fleischel.
 
The “All in Good Time” video is being released ahead of the North American leg of Iron & Wine’s previously announced Light Verse headlining tour, which begins this Friday, June 14th in Milwaukee at the Pabst Theatre and currently runs through Saturday, August 24th in Nashville, TN at The Ryman.  
 
Iron & Wine will be joined each night by the Emmy Award-winning performance collective, design studio, and film/video production company Manual Cinema. Founded in Chicago in 2010 by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, Ben Kauffman, Julia Miller, and Kyle Vegter, Manual Cinema combines handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, and innovative sound and music to create immersive stories for stage and screen.
 
Manual Cinema will perform live shadow puppetry and handmade animations alongside the band, creating a visual world that will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for fans.
 
Iron & Wine will then take the Light Verse tour to the UK and EU this fall, which begins October 22nd in Belfast, Ireland at Mandela Hall and ends November 15th in Antwerp, Belgium at De Roma. Support acts for the North American dates will be Ken Pomeroy, Amythyst Kiah, Rosali, and Sunny War, and in the UK and EU will come from Lizzie No.
 
For updated information on Iron & Wine live shows, please visit https://ironandwine.com/tours.
 

North America Summer 2024
Fri. Jun. 14 - Milwaukee, WI - The Pabst Theater %
Sat. Jun. 15 -  St Paul, MN - Palace Theatre %
Mon. Jun. 17 - Denver, CO - Mission Ballroom *
Tue. Jun. 18 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Union *
Thu. Jun. 20 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre *
Fri. Jun. 21 - Portland, OR - McMenamins Crystal Ballroom *
Sat. Jun. 22  - Portland, OR - McMenamins Crystal Ballroom *
Sun. Jun. 23 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom *
Tue. Jun. 25 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater *
Thur. Jun. 27 - Monterey, CA - Golden State Theatre *
Fri. Jun. 28 - Los Angeles, CA - The Bellwether *
Sat. Jun. 29 - Los Angeles, CA - The Bellwether *
Sun. Jun. 30 - El Cajon, CA - The Magnolia *
Tue. Jul. 02 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren *
Wed. Jul. 03 - Taos, NM - Kit Carson Park (support for Avett Brothers)
Fri. Jul. 05 - Tulsa, OK - Cain’s Ballroom *
Sat. Jul. 06  - St Louis, MO -  The Pageant *
Mon. Jul. 08 - Chicago, IL - The Salt Shed *
Wed. Jul. 31 - New Orleans, LA - Orpheum Theater !
Thu. Aug. 01 - Houston, TX-  White Oak Music Hall !
Fri. Aug. 02 - Austin, TX - ACL Live at the Moody Theater !
Sat. Aug. 03 - Dallas, TX - Majestic Theatre !
Mon. Aug. 05 - Atlanta, GA - The Eastern !
Tue. Aug. 06 - Wilmington, NC - Wilson Center at CFCC !
Wed. Aug. 07 - Raleigh, NC - Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts !
Fri. Aug. 09 - Washington, DC - The Anthem !
Sat. Aug. 10 - Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore Philadelphia !
Sun. Aug. 11 - Boston, MA - Roadrunner !
Tue. Aug. 13 - New Haven, CT - College Street Music Hall #
Wed. Aug. 14 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Paramount #
Fri. Aug. 16 - Montreal, QC - MTELUS #
Sat. Aug. 17 - Toronto, ON - The Danforth Music Hall #
Sun. Aug. 18 - Detroit, MI - Masonic Cathedral Theatre #
Tue. Aug. 20 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Theatre #
Thu. Aug. 22 - Indianapolis, IN - Egyptian Room at Old National Centre #
Fri. Aug. 23 - Louisville, KY - Old Forester’s Paristown Hall #
Sat. Aug. 24 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium #
 
% w/ Ken Pomeroy  * w/ Amythyst Kiah 
! w/ Rosali  # w/ Sunny War
 
UK/EU Fall 2024
Mon. Oct 21 - Dublin, IE - Whelan’s (solo) ~ SOLD OUT
Tue. Oct. 22 - Belfast, UK - Mandela Hall +
Wed. Oct. 23 - Dublin, IE - Vicar Street + SOLD OUT
Fri. Oct. 25 - Edinburgh, UK - Queens Hall +
Sat. Oct. 26 - Manchester, UK - New Century Hall +
Sun. Oct. 27 - Bristol, UK  - SWX +
Tue. Oct. 29 - Birmingham, UK - Birmingham Town Hall +
Wed. Oct. 30 - London, UK - London Palladium +
Thu. Oct. 31 - Cambridge, UK - Junction +
Sat. Nov. 02 - Groningen, NL - Take Root Festival
Mon. Nov. 04 - Copenhagen, DK - DR Koncerthuset +
Tue. Nov. 05 - Stockholm, SE - Göta Lejon +
Wed. Nov. 06 - Oslo, NO - Rockefeller +
Thu. Nov. 07 - Gothenburg, SE - Pustervik +
Sat. Nov. 09 - Hamburg, DE - Fabrik +
Mon. Nov. 11 Berlin, DE - Huxleys +
Tue. Nov. 12 - Cologne, DE - Bürgerhaus stollwerck +
Thu. Nov 14 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso +
Fri. Nov. 15 - Antwerp, BE - De Roma +
 
~ w/ DUG + w/ Lizzie No
 
 

Produced by the band’s principal singer-songwriter Sam Beam, Light Verse was made in the city of Angels with David Way at the helm, and joining Beam were some of the area’s finest musicians - David Garza, Sebastian Steinberg, Griffin Goldsmith, Paul Cartwright, Elizabeth Goodfellow, Kyle Crane and Tyler Chester - helping craft what is easily the band’s most playful and adventurous record since The Shepherd’s Dog.   
 
Light Verse marks the first full-length release in over seven years, and today, Iron & Wine is also sharing a “Making of/Behind the Scenes” short film. The typically guarded Beam discusses how the album came to be with studio footage and an exclusive interview.  Watch the making of Light Verse here.
 
Light Verse featuring the highlights “You Never Know,” “All In Good Time (feat. Fiona Apple),”  “Anyone’s Game,” and “Sweet Talk,”  is now available CD/LP/digitally worldwide from Sub Pop.
 
Iron & Wine’s Who Can See Forever soundtrack is also available from Sub Pop. The documentary concert film, which has seen sold-out screenings in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Denver, will platform to streaming services later in the year.
 

Praise for Iron & Wine Light Verse:

“A collection of songs bursting with surprises, reflecting the optimism of the album’s title, and a songwriter rejuvenated.” 8/10 - Uncut
 
“Both harmonically and melodically, Light Verse is more expansive, yet its arrangements are tighter. No longer the lone troubadour, Beam is backed by a group of LA musicians whose expert subtlety bolsters Beam’s magnetic quietude—even when Hollywood strings swell or the accompaniment reaches near cacophony.” 8.6/10 - PASTE
 
“My favorite moments on the album are where you hear those studio dynamics, where the quiet erupts into this chamber ensemble piece with these big shifting movements… it can go from everything from somber to nearly euphoric in its run, and I love that about it.” New Music Friday - NPR Music
 
“Beam has done this kind of thing before, but he seems to be digging a little deeper lyrically here, while crafting arrangements that are truly lush and lovely, better than any on previous Iron & Wine albums. That’s a high bar, but he soars over it with plenty of room to spare, and in the end Light Verse turns out to be one of the most enjoyable, varied, and well-crafted of the band’s records.” ★★★★ - All Music
 
“Even the good times will end eventually. That idea gestures toward the bittersweet irony of this fine late-career album: All the years have pulled Beam’s teeth, but they have also sharpened his pen.” Pitchfork
 
“It’s magnificent… It starts hushed and intimate (You Never Know), then as the band gradually comes in, it takes on a beautiful lushness throughout. Highlights include the lovely harmonies on Tears That Don’t Matter and All in Good Time, a soulful, churchy duet with Fiona Apple.” ★★★★ - MOJO
 
“Gorgeous… Iron & Wine proves he still has much to say in a hypnotic record full of lush production, highlighting the warmth and timelessness of his vocals.” 8/10 - CLASH
 
“Stunning… an album that straddles Iron & Wine’s earlier, stripped-down work and his later, more layered tunes. The gorgeous Sweet Talk and All in Good Time are particularly reminiscent of the former, while Tears That Don’t Matter is Beam at his most dynamically majestic.” ★★★★ - Record Collector
 
“Quirky yet profound, playful but often deeply moving… The ten tracks on Light Verse glow with the a rejuvenated joy and infectious creative energy.”  8/10 - The Line of Best Fit
 
“This time Beam worked alongside a handful of Los Angeles-based musicians and producer Dave Way (John Doe, Macy Gray) in his Laurel Canyon studio, and the bones of the songs on Light Verse are both looser and more freely experimental, often conjuring up a more ramshackle version of the layered psych-pop elements of 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog.” No Depression

Iron & Wine
Light Verse
 
Tracklisting:
1. You Never Know
2. Anyone’s Game
3. All in Good Time (Feat. Fiona Apple)
4. Cutting It Close
5. Taken by Surprise
6. Yellow Jacket
7. Sweet Talk
8. Tears that Don’t Matter
9. Bag of Cats
10. Angels Go Home