Nik Havert

Horsegirl suggest you “Switch Over” to their new single.

Horsegirl — the New York-via-Chicago trio of best friends Nora Cheng, Penelope Lowenstein, and Gigi Reece — unveil the new single/video, “Switch Over,” from their upcoming second album, Phonetics On and On, out February 14th via Matador Records. Following previously released singles, “2468” and “Julie,” “Switch Over” feels almost motorik in its pulse as the track dances back and forth between Cheng and Lowenstein’s swapping vocals.

The “Switch Over” video was directed by Guy Kozak, who came to the band with the idea of switching on / off and doubling concepts. Uncanny in its concept, the video explores the concept of “band-watching-band,” with layered shots of the trio watching themselves perform in the same room.

Watch the Video for “Switch Over”

Produced by Cate Le Bon and recorded at The Loft in Chicago, Horsegirl’s original and sonic home, Phonetics On and On is an exploration of the lines between pop, minimalism, and playful experimentation. With the help of Le Bon, Horsegirl expands into bright and clear sonic territories utilizing new tools, including violins, synths, and gamelan tiles, to bring this world to life. It’s an album to dance to, as Reece’s dancing drum melodies and Lowenstein’s bright guitar leads direct your attention to the band’s chemistry and mastery of form.

There’s a confident simplicity to the songwriting here. Horsegirl writes with an unanticipated honesty, leading us through scenes of girlhood and youth, as tenderness reverberates back and forth across the recording. You can see the love that comes with being a band of best friends. It’s a love that is ever-present in Phonetics On and On.

Horsegirl will play a record release show on February 22nd at the Metro in Chicago, and will tour the southeast and northeast in March with Free Range supporting, before touring the UK and Europe later in 2025. All tickets are on sale now and available here.

Pre-order Phonetics On and On

Watch the Video for “2468”

Watch the Video for “Julie”

Horsegirl Tour Dates
Sat. Feb. 22 – Chicago, IL @ Metro (Record Release Show) ^
Fri. Mar. 21 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church %
Sat. Mar. 22 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat %
Sun. Mar. 23 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings %
Mon. Mar. 24 – Richmond, VA @ The Warehouse %
Wed. Mar. 26 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom %
Thu. Mar. 27 – Somerville, MA @ Arts at The Armory %
Fri. Mar. 28 – Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theater %
Sat. Mar. 29 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw %
Sat. June 7 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
Tue. June 10 – Hamburg, DE @ Molotow Club
Wed. June 11 – Berlin, DE @ Badehaus Szimpla
Sat. June 14 – Porto, PT @ Primavera Sound Porto
Mon. June 16 – Cologne, DE @ Bumann & Sohn
Tue. June 17 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix
Wed. June 18 – Paris, FR @ Petit Bain
Fri. June 20 – London, UK @ Scala
Sat. June 21 – Manchester, UK @ Band on the Wall
Sun. June 22 – Glasgow, UK @ Mono
Tue. June 24 – Dublin, IE @ The Workman’s Club
Thu. June 26 – Bristol, UK @ Thekla

^ w/ Lifeguard & Answering Machines
% w/ Free Range

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: Slowdive – Just for a Day (2011 reissue)

Slowdive were one of the best shoegaze bands to come out of the 1990s, but also one of the best-kept secrets in the genre for a while. I don’t know if I, or anyone, can explain this, because they’re widely praised among the genre’s enthusiasts and have been playing sold-out shows across the world since their comeback self-titled album released in 2017.

Just for a Day was their 1991 full-length debut, and it’s full of classic touches that make you realize how much they influenced many other bands. The opening somber notes of “Spanish Air” are as good as anything The Cure was making back then, and just as hypnotic. “Celia’s Dream” seems to be a love letter from Neil Halstead to the girl in the title as he sings about shadows drifting away from her, but also her drifting away from him.

“Catch the Breeze” was the lone single from the album, which makes sense when you consider the big, fuzzy wall of sound that hits you in the chorus. “Ballad of Sister Sue” sounds like it could’ve been recorded in an abandoned church with its echoing guitars, mysterious vocals, and distant drums. “Erik’s Song” ends side one of the album with ethereal, instrumental bliss.

Side two begins with “Waves” – a song about leaving a relationship and the freedom that can sometimes bring (“You’re knocking on the door I closed today, and everything looks brighter.”). Speaking of things being brighter, that’s the theme of, you guessed it, “Brighter” – a song about finding hope when things look dark and trusting that tomorrow can bring something better.

“The Sadman” has Rachel Goswell‘s astral plane voice telling us of a being who calls to us when our hearts are broken. Is it someone she knows? A mythical figure? A guy she met outside a gig who looked broken down but still tried to make her laugh? I don’t know, but this needs to be in a movie somewhere. The record ends with “Primal,” which might be the best pairing of Nick Chaplin (bass) and Simon Scott (drums) on the album. They snap and thump in perfect rhythm with each other and never overpower Halstead, Goswell, and Christian Savill. That’s not easy to do when those three are playing shoegaze riffs that grow and grow like a sunrise through rainclouds.

It’s a nice debut record that hinted at bigger things to come and is now considered a bit of a classic.

Keep your mind open.

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Frederico Albanese shares “Song for the Village” to make us yearn for a trip to Italy.

Italian artist, producer, pianist and composer Federico Albanese’s upcoming album Blackbirds And The Sun Of October was inspired by – and entirely written and recorded in – Albanese’s home region of Monferrato in Northern Italy. “It’s an album about coming home, and reconnection,” he says. “Above all, about heritage.” It’s set for a February 7th release via XXIM Records.

This release, his first full length album for the label, marks a new chapter in his already stellar career. Restlessly creative, Albanese’s ever-evolving quest for new sounds and experimentation has been more extensive than most.

Today Albanese shares his latest single from the album, “Song for the Village.”

After an early childhood playing piano, he became interested in jazz, picking up the clarinet, before a teenage fascination with punk rock bands led to him learning bass guitar. Later still, he devoured the new-age music of the late 90s, immersing himself in the works of artists such as Brian Eno and William Basinski.

Swirling all that together, and having moved to Berlin from his native Italy, Albanese wrote and recorded four albums over his eight years there; each focused on a specific theme, and each adored by critics and fans alike. But for Blackbirds And The Sun Of October he felt a change was required, both thematically and geographically. “I started my whole career in Berlin, my children were born there, and I have a deep connection with all that, but it will never be my home,” he says. “And as beautiful as Berlin can be – it’s a very beautiful city – it’s a different kind of beauty to Monferrato. The northern Italian countryside in the fall is a whole different story.”

This return to his home turf in autumn 2022 – being back in the picturesque countryside, and feeling, as he says, “profoundly connected to this place”, proved inspiring in so many ways. “There’s a sense of freedom about returning that seeps into everything you do – including music.” His compositions started to reflect the deep, natural beauty that surrounded him – the colours, the wildlife, the changing of the seasons – but also the rich history, and the many myths and legends passed down through generations over thousands of years. “This place breathes history,” he adds. “It’s very romantic in that sense.”

This new chapter proved to be a significant evolution in Albanese’s work. His previous albums often explored themes of memory, inner worlds, and imaginary landscapes, with each album having a distinct, thematic focus. In contrast, Blackbirds And The Sun Of October draws directly from the physical world around him — the history, nature, and beauty. “I can sense the freedom in this music,” he says, “and there’s more positivity in it. I can feel it’s something different that before.” He talks about the music flowing out of him, naturally, a reflection of his surroundings, and how emboldening this was.

That freedom – and the reflection of his heritage and his return to his roots – also led him to employ a rich tapestry of musical influences, blending classical music with more contemporary sounds. Yet the natural beauty of the Italian countryside initially posed a challenge – how to create something that matched the beauty already present around him? Pushed to explore new directions and ideas in his music, Blackbirds And The Sun Of October includes compositions that feel timeless, drawing on the classical traditions of the region, alongside more modern, experimental pieces. “I felt freer to do things that I normally wouldn’t do, like adding drums, or writing a suite for just piano and cello that could be 400 years old.”

So we have the quiet, plaintive piano and strings of “The Prince and the Emperor”, based on the tale of Knight Aleramo and Emperor Otto I from the 10th Century AD, and the bright, hopeful “Adelasia”, inspired by the Princess who so charmed Aleramo. There’s a fragility here too, soft moments of gentle beauty that glow like sunlight on dew; the delicacy of “A Story Yet Io Be Told” and “Song For the Village”, or the calming tranquillity of “Wallpaper Of Dreams”.

“Blackbirds and the sun of October is a title that just felt right from the start – I wanted to find an image that could perfectly capture the essence of the place and time where the album began to take shape”, Albanese explains. “The blackbirds, the autumn light – there was a sense of magic in those moments that I wanted to translate into music. It conveyed all the elements that made this album what it is.”

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: Ben Lukas Boysen – Alta Ripa

Ben Lukas Boysen decided to change things up a bit on his new album, Alta Ripa. He wanted to reconnect with the countryside of his youth, but also embrace Berlin-inspired dance music. So, he combined ambient electro with EDM as well as jazz and classical sounds his father often played for him as a kid. He took those elements and grew an album more than he designed it.

“Ours” starts with soft synths that evoke images of birds gliding over meadows and then landing atop the Tyrell Corporation’s replicant factory as the electro-beats drop. The choppy synths of “Mass” remind me of a string quartet playing fast, low-end notes, and then the bass drop adds an interesting sense of danger to the whole thing.

“Quasar” builds to what you think is going to be a good-sized bass drop, but instead takes the mellow approach and keeps the song soothing. The title track is even more hypnotic and will be a great addition to your mediation playlist.

The bumping bass of “Nox” makes you want to put on dark sunglasses and matching trenchcoat and then find the nearest goth dance club. “Vineta” is synthwave bliss suitable for floating in a zero-gravity pool of saltwater. “Fama” pulses and snaps like a grumpy robot doing a spin bike workout. The album ends with “Mere” – which floats you along a slow river while android birds sing to you and warm winds drift through ancient ruins.

This album will take you to another place, possibly one you’ve been craving for a while.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: Kiasmos – II

Minimalist techno plus orchestral sounds to create atmospheric dance tracks? Yeah. That sounds good to me, and is what you get on Kiasmos‘ II.

“Grown” immediately levitates you from the floor and puts you in a better mood with its electro-percussion and happy krautrock beats. “Burst” bumps and thumps with little string quartet touches that are outstanding. “Sailed” percolates with energy but doesn’t boil over thanks to the subtle synths in it.

“Laced” sounds like something fellow Icelander Björk wished she had on her last album (happy synths and strings, little jazzy electric piano touches), and now I want a collaboration between her and Kiasmos. “Laced” nicely drifts into “Bound,” which has thicker bass and even more beats.

The mellow jazz piano on “Sworn” matches well with the swaying string quartet sounds that almost take it into New Age stylings. “Spun” keeps up the strings and bumps up the BPM. “Flown” drifts into “Told,” which keeps you moving and will be great for the second leg of your morning run. The lapping water sounds and soft synths on “Dazed” might leave you as such.

The album winds down with “Squared.” It lets the string quartet shine for almost the first minute before the synths build behind them to a slick beat that lasts the rest of the track and reminds you to keep dancing and / or meditating after it’s finished.

It’s a cool instrumental synthwave record that you’ll end up recommending to many.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Leathers – Ultraviolet

Good heavens, this is gorgeous.

Leathers, otherwise known as Canadian synth / dark wave artist Shannon Hemmett, has delivered Ultraviolet — another lush, excellent record that you’ll want on repeat for every late night drive or goth party you’re throwing.

The title track is full of beautiful synths and Leathers’ sexy / spooky vocals. “Highrise” would fit right in on the soundtrack to every late night sexy Cinemax thriller starring Shannon Tweed as Leathers sings “Isn’t it nice in your high rise? Like the page from a magazine that’s come to life…”

“Punish me for wanting more. I’m the one you can’t ignore,” Leathers sings on “Crash.” She’s right. You can’t ignore her, the thumping synth-bass, or the New Romantic-style guitar solo. “Fascination” isn’t a cover of the Human League tune (although that would be amazing), but it is a sultry song about being immediately intrigued with someone you see perhaps at a dark club or in a futuristic airport lounge. “Day for Night” is a lovely ballad and a nice mid-point to the album.

The breathy, sexy “Divine” follows it. It’s a bumping track that doesn’t go too heavy, but does get you in the mood (“I’ll give you a taste of the divine.”). “Phantom Heart” will get you both in the mood and to the dance floor. “Daydream Trash” could be a rediscovered New Wave track from 1986. Leathers nails the sound and feel of that era on it and on “Runaway,” which opens with her saying, “Let’s run away.” and you looking for airfare to Vancouver and tickets for two beyond that.

The album ends with the haunting “Mary,” which seems to be a song about a friend (?) of Leathers (“Mary was a girl I knew.”) who finds love despite not wanting it, and then running from it for fear it will hurt her again (“I got what I wanted. Now I’m running out.”).

This is the kind of record that will make you wonder why more people haven’t heard it, but it’s also nice to think of it as a sexy secret you have with some special people.

Keep your mind open.

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Morgan Nagler releases her debut single – “Crade the Pain.”

Los Angeles based singer-songwriter Morgan Nagler, best known for her bands Whispertown and Supermoon, presents her first single under her own name, “Cradle The Pain.” With jaw-dropping melodies, lyrics that cut right to the heart, and her distinctively beautiful, plaintive howl, you’ll probably wonder how Nagler seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The thing is, she’s been hiding in plain sight for a minute now, waiting for the perfect moment to emerge from band names and behind-the-scenes co-writes with her truest musical statement yet.

Through a GRAMMY-nominated collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers, as well as with The Breeders, Haim, and Madi Diaz, Nagler has spent years honing her ability to craft tunes both heartbreaking and clever with and for other artists. She has become a hugely in-demand co-writer – someone an artist will call in when they really want to get to the core of a feeling.

Reminiscent of Breeders-esque fuzzed-out indie-rock with big, power-pop hooks, “Cradle The Pain” is a preview of Nagler’s next chapter. Produced by King Tuff’s Kyle Thomas, mixed by Alex Farrar (Wednesday, MJ Lenderman, Snail Mail) and featuring a stellar backing band including both Thomas and Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) on guitar, and Josh Adams (Cat Power, Weyes Blood, Tim Heidecker) on drums, “Cradle The Pain” displays Nagler’s poetic acumen, atop an instantly memorable melody. “I originally wrote this song as a sort of letter to one of my dear friends,” Nagler explains. “It’s funny how it’s often easier to cut to the core of truth when the message is disguised as being for somebody else. It has since taken on many new and personal meanings to me, currently serving as more of a mantra. I think we inherently know it’s all in our own hands, but the allure of not being accountable allows us to romanticize falling victim to the whims of fate. I am constantly needing the reminder that perspective truly is the key to life, and only we contain our own salvations. We have to just keep getting back on the saddle again and again. Cradle the pain, it’s all the same, it’s what you make of it.” The song’s accompanying video was directed by Christian Stavros and edited by David Checel.

Listen to “Cradle the Pain”

Watch the video for “Cradle The Pain”

Nagler will be sharing more music next year, and is putting finishing touches on an album. “This song is the first of a body of work I consider closest to home,” she says. “After spending my childhood as an actor taking on alternate personalities, my young adult days writing and touring in various indie projects, and the last several years writing with and for other artists, I’ve compiled a personal collection of songs alongside Kyle. They will be released under my name for the first time, which is appropriate as I feel pretty raw and more like myself than ever. So in many ways, regardless of a lifetime spent in the trenches of creativity, this feels like a debut.”

Keep your mind open.

[You can ease my pain by subscribing today.]

[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

SPELLLING announces new album, “Portrait of My Heart,” with the title track.

SPELLLING (aka Chrystia Cabral) announces her new album, Portrait of My Heart, out March 28th via Sacred Bones, and shares a video for the lead single, “Portrait of My Heart.” On Cabral’s fourth album as SPELLLING, the Bay Area artist transforms her acclaimed avant-pop project into a mirror, as her lyrics for Portrait of My Heart tackle love, intimacy, anxiety, and alienation, trading the allegorical approach of much of her previous work for something she says is “pointed into my human heart.” The result is the sharpest, most direct SPELLLING album to date, and its immediacy emphasizes the essential mutability of Cabral’s practice. From the dark minimalism of her earliest music to the lavishly orchestrated prog-pop of 2021’s The Turning Wheel to this newly energetic expression of her creative spirit, Cabral has proved again and again that SPELLLING can be whatever she needs it to be.

In what became the genesis for the rest of Portrait of My Heart, the title track, with its propulsive drum groove and anthemic chorus of “I don’t belong here,” is the most potent embodiment of the album’s turn toward emotional directness. Once Cabral came up with the main melody, she found herself using the song as a tool to work through the anxiety she sometimes struggles with as a performer: “If this is what I’m supposed to be doing, and that I’ve chosen this life path, why does it cause me so much discomfort all the time?”

“When the lyrics for the title track came together, it really started to morph everything in this more energetic direction, instead of this more whimsical landscape that I’ve worked with before. It started to become more driven, higher energy, more focused,” Cabral explains. “And I have a big affection for it because of that. I love that it feels like it withstood transformation, which is something I always want to aspire to with things that I make. I want them to have this sense of timelessness. It could exist like this, or like that, or like this, but this is the one for right now.”

The accompanying video directed by Ambar Navarro explores the obsession that comes with making art when you’re deep in the hole of creativity and it consumes you.

Stream/Watch “Portrait of My Heart”

Before undertaking her tour for The Turning Wheel, Cabral assembled a band including core members Wyatt Overson (guitar), Patrick Shelley (drums), and Giulio Xavier Cetto (bass), and their ongoing collaboration has uncovered new contours of the SPELLLING sound. Cabral still writes and demos in isolation, but presenting the songs for Portrait of My Heart to her bandmates, named the Mystery School, helped her discover their eventual lively, organic forms. So did working with a trio of producers—The Turning Wheel mixing engineer Drew Vandenberg, SZA, collaborator Rob Bisel, and Yves Tumor producer Psymun.

However, Portrait of My Heart is also shaped significantly by its guest musicians. The original plan was to have a featured artist on every track; that idea was scrapped when Cabral realized some of the material was too personal to put in someone else’s mouth. But a few key features help shape the album. Chaz Bear (Toro y Moi) sings on “Mount Analogue,” the first true duet in the SPELLLING discography. Turnstile guitarist Pat McCrory turns Cabral’s original piano demo for “Alibi” into the crunchy, riff-y version that appears on the record, while Zulu’s Braxton Marcellous gives “Drain” its sludgy heft. These parts aren’t just incorporated seamlessly into the album; they feel like an integral part of its universe.

Ultimately, though, Portrait of My Heart is nobody’s record but Cabral’s. She fearlessly draws the curtain back on parts of herself that she’s never included in SPELLLING before—her feelings of being an outsider, her overly guarded nature, the way she can throw herself recklessly into intimate relationships and then cool on them just as quickly. “It’s very much an open diary of all those sensations,” she says. There’s a real generosity in that, as listeners may recognize themselves in Portrait of My Heart in a way they haven’t on past albums.

SPELLLING will be touring the US this coming spring, beginning with a special hometown headlining show at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, before making stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, Brooklyn, Austin, and more. Tickets are on sale now and are available here.

Pre-order Portrait of My Heart

SPELLLING Tour Dates:
Fri. April 4 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Thu. April 24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Fri. April 25 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
Sat. April 26 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar
Mon. April 28 – Austin, TX @ Parish
Tue. April 29 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
Wed. April 30 – New Orleans, LA @ Santos
Fri. May 2 – Atlanta, GA @ The EARL
Sat. May 3 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle
Sun. May 4 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage
Tue. May 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Fri. May 9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Sat. May 10 – Amherst, MA @ The Drake
Mon. May 12 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
Tue. May 13 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
Wed. May 14 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Thu. May 15 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
Sat. May 17 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
Mon. May 19 – Reno, NV @ The Holland Project

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Venamoris covers Scorpions’ “Animal Magnetism” for their newest single.

Venamoris, the heavy, brooding noir outfit who blend darkwave and metal, featuring Paula and Dave Lombardo, release their sophomore album, To Cross or To Burn, on Feb. 28 via Ipecac Recordings.

Alongside the album announcement, Venamoris unveil “Animal Magnetism,” a striking cover of Scorpions’ 1980 love song. The haunting rendition features a guest appearance from Dave’s former bandmate, Gary Holt (Exodus, Slayer). The song is accompanied by a Displaced/Replaced created video.

Dave reflects on the personal significance of including “Animal Magnetism” on To Cross or To Burn:

“The first rock concert I ever attended was on May 25, 1980, with Scorpions opening for Ted Nugent’s ‘Scream Dream’ tour. We (Slayer) had covered a couple Scorpions songs in the early years but I never would have thought of re-imagining one of their songs at that time. Now it seems like the most natural thing to do. I could hear Paula’s sultry voice, the song taking on a slightly industrial feel… and I could fully hear Gary Holt play this insane lead. It’s been incredible to see this idea come to life. To release this at the same time this iconic band celebrates 60 years is a perfect way for me to thank them for an inspiring first show in 1980 and for all that they have contributed since.”

The married duo teased To Cross or To Burn’s 2025 arrival with the 2024 singles “In The Shadows” and “Spiderweb,” which were praised for their unique sound – described by Consequence as “trip-hop style” fused with “the dark/folk metal of Emma Ruth Rundle and Chelsea Wolfe,” while Revolver has described the pair as “spellbinding.”

Paula, who wrote the album’s nine-original songs, offers insight into the album:

“To Cross or To Burn has taken us down a darker, very different path than our first album. There’s a confidence in this body of work. An overall vibe of heaviness that was unexpected. Verses of hard truths now bound in acceptance. The soul-searching continues.”

To Cross or To Burn is available for pre-order now with the collection available digitally, on CD and on both white and limited-edition red vinyl: https://venamoris.lnk.to/cross.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Monica at Speakeasy PR.]

Youth Lagoon releases new single, “Speed Freak,” ahead of upcoming album due February 21, 2025.

Youth Lagoon – the alias of Idaho-based producer and songwriter Trevor Powers – announces his new album, Rarely Do I Dream, out February 21st via Fat Possum, and presents the video for lead single “Speed Freak.” Additionally, Powers announces a 2025 North American tour. Rarely Do I Dream is Youth Lagoon’s most comprehensive and audacious album to date. It’s a treasure trove of home movies, twangy fuzz guitars, sun-bleached synths, classical pianos, blown-out drums, and Powers’ spellbinding melodies, all which feel like an old photograph that’s been reanimated in a strange and distant future.In the fall of 2023, Powers discovered a shoebox filled with home videos in his parents’ basement. “When I took the tapes home and popped in the first one, it was my brother Bobby and I at the state fair. I was 4 years old choking on a corn dog,” he laughs. “If anything’s a summary of life, that is.” Powers spent the following week recording his favorite moments off the TV — Easter egg hunts, backyard baseball, bloody noses, birthday parties, road trips, and all the life in-between. The vivid intimacies of life and boyhood depicted in Powers’ home movies began shaping and infusing with his songs. He started sampling the audio and manipulating it into a kind of musical cinematography, fusing past with future. “What I was really consumed with was how much I could zoom in on my actual history,” says Powers. “I wanted to really make someone feel like they were inside my living room in 1993, but rearrange the furniture a bit. Something about combining that level of hyperreality with fairytales of devils and detectives weirdly felt like the truest way to immortalize these pieces of my family.”

Rooted in love and childhood memoir, Rarely Do I Dream is a triumph of American gothic imagination — where storybook innocence dissolves into a radioactive billow of teenage drifters, drug-addled hustlers, and old-world folklore. Drifting between propulsive electronica and hallucinatory rock songs, Powers’ singular voice always glows front and center as the neon road sign pointing home.“The more I rewind the tapes of my life, the more I can hear the voice of my soul,” Powers says. “This isn’t nostalgia. Life’s much more messy than that. It’s a dedication to all the parts of who I was, who I am, and who I’m going to be.”With a bent toward rural noir, Powers has found a home in a world where his personal journals and poetic confessions are indistinguishable from the twisted mythologies of habitual sinners and devout barflies. Lead single “Speed Freak,” a dark joyride that showcases Youth Lagoon’s glaring metamorphosis, unleashes a grungy beat while synth bass struts and splinters into a technicolor post-punk spectacle. “This song came from a thought I had of giving the angel of death a hug,” Powers says. “We spend our whole lives running from this thing we can’t outrun. This body is temporary, but there is no death. Only transformation. A door opens when you learn to let go of the identity you’ve been building your whole life. Someone told me a couple years ago, ‘I have good news for you and I have bad news. The bad news is Trevor is doomed. There’s no hope for Trevor. The good news is — you’re not Trevor.’ When I heard that, it clicked.”

The video is directed by longtime creative collaborator Tyler T. Williams.
Watch the Video For “Speed Freak”

After taking an eight-year hiatus, Youth Lagoon returned with the acclaimed Heaven Is a Junkyard in early 2023, “a warped but ornate, experimental form of Americana” (The Ringer). “I had ended Youth Lagoon years ago because I lost who I was,” Powers says. “Then life jumped me in an alley and gave me a beating. That suffering changed my frequency. Now my ideas are a river. I can’t keep up.”

Powers’ ability to relentlessly push and evolve the project forward has taken Youth Lagoon into a territory both fiercely original and strikingly expansive. Recorded with co-producer and mixer/engineer Rodaidh McDonald, Rarely Do I Dream marks a seismic transformation, a mammoth leap forward, and an instant, indelible landmark in Youth Lagoon’s revered discography. With a profound love and dedication to family, along with his own brand of genre-bending noir rock, Powers’ has achieved what he set out to do.

“I wanted to make an album that feels like life itself . . . ”

Pre-order Rarely Do I Dream

Youth Lagoon tour dates
Thu. Mar. 27 – Spokane, WA @ District Bar @ Knitting Factory
Fri. Mar. 28 – Missoula, MT @ ZACC
Sat. Mar. 29 – Boise, ID @ Treefort Fest
Thu. Apr. 3 Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater
Fri. Apr. 4 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret
Sat. Apr. 5 – Victoria, BC @ Upstairs
Sun. Apr. 6 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile
Tue. Apr. 8 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
Wed. Apr. 9 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent
Thu. Apr. 10 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
Fri. Apr. 11 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
Mon. Apr. 14 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
Tue. Apr. 15 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
Wed. Apr. 16 – Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Art Co
Fri. Apr. 18 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
Sat. Apr. 19 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade (Altar)
Sun. Apr. 20 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
Mon. Apr. 21 – Washington, DC @ The Atlantis
Tue. Apr. 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry
Thu. Apr. 24 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
Fri. Apr. 25 – Jersey City, NJ @ White Eagle Hall
Sat. Apr. 26 – New Haven, CT @ Space Ballroom
Sun. Apr. 27 – Boston, MA @ Middle East Downstairs
Tue. Apr. 29 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
Thu. May 1 – Toronto, ON @ Axis
Fri. May 2 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
Sat. May 3 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
Sun. May 4 – Louisville, KY @ Whirling Tiger
Mon. May 5 – Indianapolis, IN @ Hi-Fi
Wed. May 7 – Chicago, IL @ Outset
Thu. May 8 – Milwaukee, WI @ Vivarium
Fri May 9 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
Sat. May 10 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Mon. May 12 – St. Louis, MO @ Atomic Cowboy
Tue. May 13 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
Thu. May 15 – Denver, CO @ Marquis
Fri. May 16 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Block Party

Keep your mind open.

[Speed over to the subscription box!]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]