Kevin Morby Shares Video For “Downtown’s Lights” :: US Tour Begins Next Week

Today, Kevin Morby shares the stunning new video for the contemplative City Music standout “Downtown’s Lights.” Directed by Hugo Jouxtel and shot in Paris, the video – like that album – is a paean to the cities of the world, with the City of Lights taking center stage. Kevin offers the following insight into the video for “Downtown’s Lights”:

Paris has always shown a lot of love towards my music, and I am very grateful. On my first European solo tour I was selling maybe 50 tickets a city until I showed up in Paris and heard the show was already at 150 tickets, which at the time really blew my mind and took me by complete surprise. Before the show, a company called La Blogothéque asked me to do a “Take Away Show,” which I agreed to do, though I didn’t really know what it was. The film crew was so kind and took me on a magical adventure around the city filming me playing some songs in a park and in a boat going down the canal. Two years later, I was back in Paris and they asked me to film a show playing to a small crowd inside a house next to Père Lachaise Cemetery and that, too, was very magical. So when it came time to do a video for Downtowns Lights I knew just who to ask. La Blogothéque has a way of capturing the meeting of artists and a city half way, letting them both do the work and play off of each other and the result is always fascinating.

Kevin Morby fans in the US can rejoice in the fact that Kevin begins a large US tour one week from today in Seattle. This comes on the heels of festival performances at Primavera Sound, Field Day, Bonnaroo, Solid Sound, Roskilde, Montreux Jazz Festival, Latitude, Newport Folk, and more, as well as heaps of critical praise for his album City Music (the follow-up to last year’s breakthrough Singing Saw). The City Music Tour comes to your city this summer.

Marlon Williams Returns With New Song “Vampire Again”

Marlon Williams returns with “Vampire Again,” his first new material since releasing his acclaimed debut album early last year and touring relentlessly around the world, including performances on CONAN, Later…with Jools Holland, opening for Bruce Springsteen and picking up both an ARIA Award nomination and two New Zealand Music Awards.

In creating “Vampire Again,” Williams returned home to Lyttelton, New Zealand to re-engage in the writing process and work again with producer Ben Edwards. Below he discusses the story behind the song. Watch the accompanying video, directed by Williams in collaboration with UK cinematographer Steve Gullick. It’s a tragicomic vignette of a societal outcast – misshapen, uncomfortable, humorous and a little touching.

The germination of this song began in LA last year. It was indeed Halloween again, and I was bored, having spent a week locked away in an Airbnb by the airport trying in vain to write a song. Any song. Nothing came. So Halloween comes around and I figure, “Hey, I’m gonna go out tonight. Alone. Comfortably alone. Comfortably alone to see the LA Opera performing a new score to accompany my fave scary flick Nosferatu at the Ace Hotel. I’m gonna dress as the spindly creep himself. What’s more, I’m gonna get super blazed before I go. And be comfortably alone.”
So, off I go, having spent far too much on a last minute outfit, and step out of the Uber and onto the red carpet with a nauseating air of self-confidence. “This is my night. I am strong. I am human and it is my right to express myself how I see fit.” Turns out I was running late, and when I finally enter the theatre everyone was already seated and the overture had begun. What’s more, no one else was dressed up. Well they were, but in tuxedos and lovely dresses. And there was nowhere for stoned ole spindleboots to sit. So, I hunched and crawled my way down the aisle and sat on the floor like it was the most reasonable thing to do at an opera.
I made it through the whole film and then calmly turned tail, satisfied that I’d had a good time and sure that I’d heard whispers of “bad-ass” as I left the building. I’d like to believe that this was, at least in part, the catalyst for a whole new period in my life and my art. But that’s bullsh*t.
Anyway, here it is, my own demented tale of New Age self-affirmation; “Vampire Again.”

Following Williams’ recent performances at the Newport Folk Festival and Pickathon, he’ll hit the road throughout the rest of the month supporting City & Colour, before playing headline shows in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto this fall.

“Channeling Roy Orbison at moments with a good sense of humor great songs and one of the best voices at Newport, New Zealand’s Marlon Williams.” – Bob Boilen

“His songwriting is prolific – he paints songs as characters and remains gender-fluid throughout his nine-song masterpiece. Williams is such a gifted storyteller that there is no telling which tracks are autobiographical and which are fictional.” – Paste

Destroyer Announces New Album ‘ken’, Out October 20th

ken was produced by Josh Wells of Black Mountain, who has been the drummer in Destroyer since 2012. The album was recorded in its entirety in the jam space/studio space that the group calls The Balloon Factory. However, unlike Poison Season, ken was not recorded as a “band” record, though everyone in the band does make an appearance.

ken will also be available as a Deluxe LP: Pressed on opaque yellow vinyl and includes a bonus 7-inch single on black vinyl that contains solo acoustic versions of the album tracks “A Light Travels Down the Catwalk” and “Stay Lost.” Includes lyric insert.

Destroyer is also happy to share a run of European tour dates this winter. See full run of dates below.

Kane Strang Shares Official Video For New Single, “Silence Overgrown”

Kane Strang has unveiled the official, video for “Silence Overgrown,” off his new album, Two Hearts and No Brain, out now.

Crafted from footage captured by Kane and his bandmates during their US and European tours earlier this year, the video for “Silence Overgrown” offers a glimpse of the tour life across the globe. On his self-made video, Kane says,

“landing in New York ahead of our first overseas shows and walking around that night was hands down the most surreal moment of my life. I never even thought I’d visit America, let alone be there for my music and I’m so glad we managed to capture fragments of that and the rest of this crazy year on camera. This goes out to everyone who has come see us play or let us crash at their houses or bought the album. Thank you!!!”

In addition to the recently announced New Zealand dates, Kane has added a run of Australian shows supporting Ali Barter.

Alex Lahey Announces Debut Album, ‘I Love You Like A Brother’, Out October 6th

Born and raised in Melbourne, Alex Lahey initially studied jazz saxophone at university but unimpressed with “learning music in such a regimented way” she switched to an arts degree. Lahey’s debut album, I Love You Like A Brother (out October 6th), drops fresh off the back of Lahey’s breakthrough EP in 2016, B-Grade University. Both releases build on her tenure with cult music collective Animaux which allowed Lahey the musical anarchy she yearned in school – hell, she booked the band their first gig before they’d even prepared a single song.

Today we’re excited to share “Everyday’s The Weekend” along with a fantastic video counterpart. We’ve all felt the ennui of a dead end job, but somehow Lahey makes it feel almost…fun? Enjoy the clip above & stream the single here – alexlahey.lnk.to/weekend.

Brother finds Lahey back in the studio with production partner, and one-half of Holy Holy, Oscar Dawson (Ali Barter, British India). The pair pushed each other to create an intimate sonic experience that comprises scuzzy guitars thrumming over pop melodies, helmed by Lahey’s unfussy but arresting vocals. The album’s songs traverse the everyday themes of family, heartbreak and identity. Lahey tells her stories with character and dry humor – “I’ve figured it out,” she sings in “Awkward Exchange,” “you’re a bit of a dick” – but there are also moments of darkness. In “Taking Care” she muses, “I’ve gained weight and I drink too much, maybe that’s why you don’t love me as much.” The poignant “Backpack” is a tribute to Lahey’s latest relationship, and the unsure start it got off to.

The themes of Alex Lahey’s album might be universal, but it’s the unique approach she takes unpacking them that’s earned her a Best New Track on Pitchfork, glowing press from the likes of Entertainment Weekly, Stereogum, NYLON, Noisey, a spot in the Australian radio network triple j’s prestigious Hottest 100 of 2016 & more.

Lahey will bring her tour in support of I Love You Like A Brother stateside this November, kicking off in Boston on Wed. November 15th. A full list of tour dates is below.