This is definitely Shearwater’s biggest and loudest record—it’s easy to imagine these songs roaring from the stage—but it’s also their most detailed and intricate one. Front man Jonathan Meiburg and producer/engineer Reisch (who also recorded 2012’s Animal Joyand the off-the-cuff collaborations of 2014’s Fellow Travelers) spent two years crafting Jet Plane and Oxbow with help from drummer Cully Symington, longtime Shearwater associates Howard Draper and Lucas Oswald, and tourmates Jesca Hoop, Abram Shook, and Jenn Wasner.
 
But their secret weapon this time is film composer and percussionist Brian Reitzell, whose soundtracks include The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, The Bling Ring, and 30 Days of Night.  Reitzell’s arsenal of strange instruments emphasizes Jet Plane and Oxbow’s cinematic depth and scope, and reflects the band’s choice to anchor the record in the era when digital technology was just beginning to transform the world of recorded music. In Shearwater’s hands this doesn’t feel like nostalgia; the racing synths and hammered dulcimers of heart-pounding opener “Prime” or the addled motorik of “Radio Silence” sound more like a metaphor for our own bewildering moment. (For a full bio, along with a conversation between famed music journalist Michael Azerrad & Shearwater frontman Meiburg, read here).

Shearwater will begin their 2016 tour in February with three warm-up dates in Texas and New York before heading to Europe for the rest of the month. (Full schedule below). A further North American tour will also be announced soon.
 

Jet Plane and Oxbow is now available for preorder through Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, and Amazon. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited “Loser” edition on blue colored vinyl while supplies last.
 
Additionally, when you preorder Jet Plane and Oxbow you’ll get access to stream the album before its street date, and provide access to an exclusive Shearwater podcast, “Headwaters,” which features demos and outtakes from the new record and a conversation between Meiburg and WNYC’s John Schaefer (host of “New Sounds”).
 
“It’s like joining us on an expedition,”  Meiburg says of the podcast, only half in jest.  Along the way, he and Schaefer listen to field recordings of howler monkeys, musician wrens, and other strange creatures from remote parts of Guyana and Brazil, and they talk about everything from the ideas and influences that fed the new album to David Bowie’s idea of “social protest music”, the fearsome teeth of the vampire fish, and the last days of Lawrence of Arabia.  Shearwater’s longtime fans won’t be surprised by Meiburg’s wide-ranging interests, but new listeners will enjoy meeting an unlikely front man who seems to be part rock star, part David Attenborough.  
 

Tour Dates

U.S. 
Feb. 03 - Austin, TX - North Door
Feb. 04 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada
Feb. 06 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
 
Europe
Feb. 10 - Berlin, DE - Frannz Club
Feb. 11 - Copenhagen, DK - Loppen
Feb. 12 - Hamburg, DE -  Molotow
Feb. 13 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Noord
Feb. 14 - Brussels. BE - Botanique
Feb. 16 - Lille, FR - Aeronef
Feb. 17 - London, UK - Islington Assembly Hall
Feb. 18 - Bristol, UK -  The Fleece
Feb. 19 - Leeds, UK - The Brudenell Social Club
Feb. 20 - Glasgow, UK - King Tuts
Feb. 21 - Newcastle, UK - The Cluny
Feb. 23 - Dublin, IE -  Button Factory
Feb. 24 - Manchester , UK - Night & Day
Feb. 25 - Brighton, UK - The Haunt
Feb. 26 - Paris FR, -  Point Ephémère
Feb. 27 - Zurich, CH - Bogen F
Feb. 28 - Fribourg, CH - Nouveau Monde

Overheard at the Sub Pop Airport Store:

Now that I live and breathe Sub Pop at the airport, it’s easy for me to lose sight of the fact that, for many travelers, their first introduction to the record label is wandering accidentally into our store. 

While we are quite accustomed to hearing statements like, “This is the best store ever!” sometimes we overhear observations, or are asked questions, that very much help keep us grounded. I recently asked my fellow employees for any funny quotes that they have overheard lately. Here’s a small sampling of some of the stranger things that are spoken at the store:

“These SUB POP shirts all look like the Sublime logo.”

“So, is this like, Seattle’s Abercrombie?”

“Sub Pop must be some kind of local soda company.”

“This is a store for teenyboppers.”

“I don’t know what Sub Pop is, but I like it.”

“Why does this say LOSER?”

“A record store in the airport. Oh my god, this is so Seattle.”

“Man, Sub Pop used to be anti-culture.”

“Oh yeah, Sub Pop is Dave Grohl’s recording studio.”

“This is weirdly awesome.”

“I’m about to spend all my money and I haven’t even left the airport yet.”

“This is a little ridiculous. They should have a store in the worst alley of Seattle, not the airport.”

“Who are all these people?” 

“Can you take my photo for your wall?

“Why don’t you have the Chili Peppers on here?”

“Whoa! Check out these tiny records.”

“Are these really vinyls back here? New ones?”

“What do you play records on nowadays?”

“Why are you buying records here? You don’t even have a record player…”

“I respect what’s going on in here, but they need some better stuff, like O.A.R. or Janis Joplin.”

“Wait. Is Nirvana from Seattle?”

“Is this a mouse pad?”

“Let’s go. This store is just filled with crap that says ‘Sub Pop.’”

Beach House have announced the first round of 2016 tour dates for North America in support of Thank Your Lucky Stars and Depression Cherry. The trek begins February 29th in Cleveland at House of Blues and ends March 18th in Philadelphia at Union Transfer. Tickets go on sale Friday, October 23rd. (details below)

Beach House’s 2015 tour resumes on October 24th at Belfast’s Mandela Hall and their 2015 dates end with a sold-out 3-night stand December 17-19 in San Francisco at The Fillmore.

And last week, Beach House performed “One Thing” from Thank Your Lucky Stars on the release date for the album, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.  Watch that performance here.

Additionally, Beach House have scheduled a Reddit AMA for Tuesday, October 20th at 2pm EDT.

Thank Your Lucky Stars is now available to stream here, and is available for purchase in North America through Sub Pop Mega Mart, Bandcamp, Amazon, and iTunes. LP and digital copies of the album are available through all DSPs and your local record stores, with the CD version following on Friday, October 30th. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com will also receive the limited “Loser” edition on green vinyl (while supplies last).

Depression Cherry is also available in North America from Sub Pop Mega Mart,  iTunes, Amazon and Bandcamp.

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Tour Dates 

In this collaborative effort, 4AD group Merchandise and Sub Pop’s own Dum Dum Girls present the new “Red Sun” b/w “Echo” 7” single, available worldwide Friday, November 27th from Sub Pop.  (Listen to “Red Sun”)

“Red Sun” and “Echo” were both written after midnight.  “Red Sun” is the story of love, power, and weakness. A 3 minute narrative about the mystery of human attraction and its hold on the psyche.  “Red Sun,” played by Dee Dee, is half siren and half desert wanderer.  She’s the temptress and the God of War the body of a girl who can make all men her victim.  “Echo” takes place in the streets of Berlin.  In “Echo” our narrator is lost in the madness of regret and lost love. In the warm streets of summer he’s frozen by his thoughts as if it were winter already.  This new single was conceived in Tampa, FL and recorded between Tampa, Berlin and NYC during the summer of 2015.  

(Photo Credit: Catie Laffoon)

Stereogum had this to say about “Red Sun”, “a moody track that rests on a pulsing, sinister synth line and arid guitar. Dee Dee handles the verses, playing some sort of man-eating desert siren, while Carson Cox jumps in on the chorus” (see track premiere October 19th).

The “Red Sun” b/w “Echo” single is now available for preorder through Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, and Amazon. Preorders through megamart.subpop.com will receive a limited edition version of the 7” pressed on clear purple vinyl (while supplies last).

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Dum Dum Girls’ digital single for “Coming Down” (radio edit) b/w “Girls Intuition” is also now available for purchase through Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes and all streaming services.  Both songs were available exclusively on very limited edition 7” vinyl.