News – Page 54 – 7th Level Music

Fever Ray gives us some “Kandy” on their new single.

Fever Ray and Olof Dreijer on the “Kandy” set, photo credit – Nina Andersson

Fever Ray’s Radical Romantics, out March 10th (digital/CD) and April 28th (US vinyl) onMute, is one of the most highly-anticipated albums of 2023. Today, they continue their enthralling return with “Kandy,” a new single/video which follows “What They Call Us” and “Carbon Dioxide,” “an explosive single about love and sex in a moment of climate apocalypse” (Pitchfork). The song was co-produced and co-written by Fever Ray’s Karin Dreijer and their brother and fellow member of The Knife, Olof Dreijer. This is one of the four Radical Romantics tracks Olof co-produced and co-wrote, marking the first time the siblings have produced and written music together in eight years.

Olof comments on “Kandy,” “I tried to tune in as much as possible into Fever Ray vibes and tried many different styles, or clothes as I usually say when I talk about different music production suggestions. But in the end we took out the same synthesizer, the SH101, used for The Knife track, ‘The Captain,’ and it just worked!”

The accompanying video, directed by long-time collaborator Martin Falck, re-unites Karin and Olof on stage in a homage to the now iconic video for The Knife’s “Pass This On” directed by Johan Renck.

Watch Fever Ray’s “Kandy” Video

Radical Romantics, the first new Fever Ray album since 2017’s Plunge, “carefully explores well-trod themes of love and sex but through Dreijer’s uniquely esoteric lens” (them). To be precise, Dreijer presents their struggle with the myth of love.

Fever Ray first started on Radical Romantics in fall 2019; working in the Stockholm studios built with Olof, who eventually joined in on working on the album. Other co-producers and performers include the power duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails), experimental artist and producer Vessel, Portuguese DJ and producer Nídia, Johannes Berglund, and Peder Mannerfelt and Pär Grindvik’s technicolor dance project Aasthma.

This spring, Fever Ray will embark on their first tour since 2018, the There’s No Place I’d Rather Be Tour. As Stereogum stated, “Karin Dreijer likes to stage ambitious, slightly baffling spectacles, so this should definitely be something to see.” A full list of European and North American dates can be found below. New shows have been added in Washington, D.C. and Pasadena as part of Just Like Heaven. Additionally, CHRISTEENEhas been added as support on all other US dates. Tickets are on sale now here.

Watch “What They Call Us” Video
Watch “Carbon Dioxide” Visualizer
Pre-order Radical Romantics

Fever Ray Tour Dates (new dates in bold)
Thu. Mar. 23 – Oslo, NE @ Sentrum Scene
Sat. Mar. 24 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA
Sun. Mar. 25 – Gothenburg, SE @ GBG Film Studios
Mon. Mar. 27 – Riga, LV @ Hanzas Perons
Tue. Mar. 28 – Tallinn, EE @ Noblessner Foundry
Thu. Mar. 30 – Warsaw, PL @ World Wide Warsaw Festival
Sat. Apr. 1 – Amsterdam, NLE @ Melkweg
Mon. Apr. 3 – Brussels, BE @ Cirque Royal
Tue. Apr. 4 – Cologne, DE @ E-Werk
Thur. Apr. 6 – Luxembourg City, LU @ Den Atelier
Fri. Apr. 7 – The Hague, NE @ Rewire Festival
Mon. May 1 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem ^
Wed. May 3 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5 *
Fri. May 5 – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner *
Sun. May 7 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed *
Wed. May 10 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater *
Sat. May 13 – Pasadena, CA @ Just Like Heaven
Fri. June 30 – Werchter, BE @ Rock Werchter
Sat. Aug. 19 – London, UK @ Field Day
Sat. Aug. 26 – Paris, FR @ Rock En Seine

^ = with 100 gecs & Machine Girl
* = with CHRISTEENE

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Austin Psych Fest announces its 2023 lineup.

Austin Psych Fest is returning, and it’s bringing another great Austin music festival lineup with it. Saturday’s lineup alone is worth the weekend pass…and this isn’t even the full lineup. The festival will be held at The Far Out on two different stages throughout the day, and tickets are already on sale. Don’t miss it.

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[Thanks to the Reverberation Appreciation Society.]

Snow Ghosts put a “Curse” on us with their new single.

Today Snow Ghosts return with their fourth album, ‘The Fell’, due for release on February 24^th through Houndstooth.

‘The Fell’ sees the trio of Hannah Cartwright (Augustus Ghost, Masakichi), Ross Tones (Throwing Snow) and Oli Knowles (The Keep, Sex Swing) return with a collection of old folk songs that were never written – an album that conjures images of animals and ancient tales experienced within a future landscape. Ancestral marks imprint the endless terrain of ‘The Fell’ and their songlines still sing.

Today they share the album’s first single and accompanying visual, entitled “Curse” – a violent storm of wrath; a song that explores the folklore of shapeshifting women and highlights historic misogyny that still exists.

Vocalist Hannah Cartwright comments: “Curse reflects the folkloric trope of witch to hare metamorphosis. It is the furious revenge of the hunted hare, exacted upon her tormentor.”

“Curse” on YouTube:https://youtu.be/lFEhbD_H8a0
Other ‘The Fell’ links:https://hth.lnk.to/thefell

A seed of an idea was planted in 2015 during a conversation between vocalist Hannah Cartwright and fellow founder Ross Tones about his home in Weardale. The trio, completed by Oli Knowles, have had three releases since that time, giving the album time to slowly grow its roots deep into their creative subconscious.

“The concept of The Fell as a living thing was there from the beginning” explains Ross. “That imagery provided the overarching environment” Hannah continues, “which then left us encompassed by human, floral, faunal, mythological, folkloric and magical elements to explore as and when we approached each piece. It was a chance to completely immerse ourselves in another world, its history and perception through other inhabitants.”

‘The Fell’ is also a liminal or ‘thin’ place. Bog land preserves organic remains, like time capsules, a quality that made it a special place to prehistoric people. These relics serve as starting points for new stories and songs. Folk tales talk of the metamorphosis of animals into people and back again which talks to a deep rooted ambiguity of where people begin and the land ends.

“The moorland fell looks beautiful, wild and desolate.” Ross continues. “From certain places you can look in all directions and see no obvious signs of humanity. Yet it’s a completely man made landscape. We used it as a multilayered metaphor, containing stories of the interaction between humans and nature which express themselves in folklore.”

The arrangement too is multilayered in its approach. 2019’s colossal ‘A Quiet Ritual’ contained a score for a full orchestra and the ancient Carnyx. ‘The Fell’s’ instrumental arsenal consists of esraj, dulcimer, daf and bodhrán drums, violin, guitars, and a variety of synthesisers. Whilst equally vast, immersive and other-worldly, these tools are used to create intimate, personal stories. Sharing a mutual influence of the shadowy elements of folklore and the heavier side of experimental noise, a disparate array of reference points and this extensive collection of instruments combines to form Snow Ghosts’ bewitching and often intoxicating sound.

On ‘The Fell’, they return for a captivating new album where ancient folk motifs intermingle with dark electronics, violins and primordial imagery to create an album of vast contrasts – heavy, yet flowing; electronic yet organic; modern yet steeped in nature and history.

‘The Fell’ will be released on February 24th via Houndstooth. Pre-order/pre-save links here.

‘The Fell’ track list:
1. Given
2. Hearths
3. Filaments
4. Curse – Visualiser
5. Buried
6. Hawthorn
7. Avine
8. Prophecies
9. Home
10. Magpie
11. Vixen
12. Taken

Links:
http://www.snowghosts.net
https://www.facebook.com/SnowGhosts
https://twitter.com/Snow_Ghosts
https://www.instagram.com/snowghostsband/?hl=en

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[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

The Bobby Lees announces North American tour.

The Bobby Lees, who recently released their Ipecac Recordings’ debut, Bellevue, head out on their first North American tour in support of the album, which Pop Matters dubbed their “most scorching and essential recording to date.”

“This will be our first time playing Bellevue in all of these cities,” said the band, collectively. “Come watch us play like it’s our last night on earth!”

The Bobby Lees tour dates:

February 3 Atlantic City, NJ Anchor Rock Club (w/ Jon Spencer)

March 30 Chicago, IL Schubas Tavern

March 31 Columbus, OH Rumba Café

April 1 Athens, OH Ohio University

April 3 Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom

April 4 Toronto, ON Monarch Tavern

April 6 Philadelphia, PA Kung Fu Necktie

April 7 New York, NY Mercury Lounge

April 8 Troy, NY No Fun

April 11 Washington, DC DC9

April 12 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle

April 13 Atlanta, GA The Earl

April 14 Nashville, TN The Basement

May 2 Seattle, WA Barboza

May 3 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios

May 5 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill

May 6 Los Angeles, CA The Echo

May 7 San Diego, CA The Casbah

May 11 Austin TX Mohawk

May 12 Dallas, TX Three Links

May 13 Tulsa, OK The Vanguard

Tickets for all shows are on sale this Friday at 10 am local time. Ticketing links can be found via Ipecac.com/tours.

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[Thanks to Monica at Speakeasy PR.]

Object of Affection release “Half Life” ahead of debut album due March 03, 2023.

LA’s Object of Affection tap into the primitivism of said members’ diverse projects while elevating their capacity for atmosphere and melody. Hints of gloomy punk, forlorn new wave, and down-and-out Regan-era alternative rock reverberate in their sound, not as pastiche but in sonic kinship to the austerity and fatalism embedded in the previous generation’s desperate and dejected anthems.

Since the release of their 2020 S/T, self released EP and most recent single “Through and Through” (Suicide Squeeze), the band have already shared the stage with accomplished peers Ceremony, Fiddlehead, Special Interest, Gulch, so on.

Today they’re pleased to announce they’ve joined the Profound Lore fam for their debut full-length, Field of Appearances. Its melting lead single and album opener “Half Life”, which touches on themes of the passage of time and the aching effects of hopelessness, is available now. Watch its accompanying video, directed by Miwah Lee below.

Watch / Share “Half Life” via YouTube
Listen / Playlist: Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music

With the inclusion of drum machines, synthesizers, acoustic guitars, and auxiliary percussion, Field of Appearances highlights the band’s sophisticated evolution and experimentation. The debut’s ten songs explode in character, contrast, and excitement.

Exploring themes of reflection, insufficiency, and Déjà vu as well as additional contributions from Bre Morell (Temple of Angels, Crushed) and Brittney Beppu, each track on Field of Appearances simultaneously plays a role in making it a more significant sum than its parts while also standing out individually. The album was meticulously crafted with Grammy-nominated producer Alex Newport (Bloc Party, At The Drive-In) and emerging engineer Phillip Odom and is an exceedingly memorable, precisely cohesive, and refreshing addition to the alternative music landscape.

Object of Affection’s Field of Appearances sees its release March 3 via Profound Lore; Pre-order / Pre-save the album here.

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[Thanks to Bailey at Another Side.]

Stone Nomads unleash sludgy new single – “Fiery Sabbath.”

Texas Doom metal purveyors STONE NOMADS have released the new official music video for the thunderous single “Fiery Sabbath,” with the accompanying release of the digital audio extended single “Fiery Sabbath” including new epic B-side “Gallows Walk” and special bonus track “Sign of the Wolf” (featuring guest appearance by Esben Willems of Monolord), available at https://stonenomads.bandcamp.com/album/fiery-sabbath

STONE NOMADS explains “Our new single – ‘Fiery Sabbath’ is a song that really captures a lot of the different elements of our sound. It kicks off with the stoner-ish groove early in the song, which flows in and out of this slow metallic sludge and on into kind of an epic middle section. We really dig that sludge sound so we try and hit it hard on the ‘low and slow’ parts. We did an official video for it which is premiering on Brave Words today and an extended single with a B-side of a Pentagram cover that turned out really good, we’re super excited for the release.”

Watch “Fiery Sabbath” at BraveWords here.

About STONE NOMADS:

Raised in the Texas fields of doom, STONE NOMADS have forged a sound blending colossal riffs, dynamic groove and all that is heavy… The band, based in Houston, mixes elements of Southern Sludge and Doom Metal on a stoned-out Sabbath trip, featuring Jon Cosky on Guitar & Vocals, Jude Sisk on Bass & Vocals, and Dwayne Crosby on drums. The trio released their debut album Fields of Doom via Gravitoyd Heavy Music in 2022, and the Doom metal scene took notice… The album was ranked #8 on the Doom Charts and saw the band playing festivals and regional tour dates with the likes of scene veterans Elder, Mothership, Spirit Adrift and more. In 2023 the band will embark on a US tour in support of a new album planned to be released mid-year.

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[Thanks to Maria at Adrenaline PR.]

Austin Psych Fest returns April 28 – 30, 2023.

The fine folks at Levitation have announced the return of the Austin Psych Fest (which is what the Levitation Music Festival was originally called for many years and when I started going there in 2013) April 28 – 30, 2023. The festival will be at The Far Out Lounge in Austin and take place on two stages at the venue.

Lineup announcements and tickets are coming soon. I’m sure it will be another fun time in Austin, so don’t miss it.

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[Thanks to the Reverberation Appreciation Society.]

Fenne Lily’s “Lights Light Up” is a bright look at the apprehensive world of new love.

Today, UK-born and now New York-based artist Fenne Lily announces Big Picture, her new album out April 14th on Dead Oceans, and presents its lead single/video, “Lights Light Up.” She also announces a month-plus North American co-headline tour with Christian Lee Hutson, as well as a UK and EU run, on sale this Friday, January 20th at 10am local time. A gorgeous and gripping portrait of Fenne’s last two years, Big Picture was pieced together in an effort to self-soothe and offers a brilliant catharsis. Tracked live in co-producer Brad Cook’s North Carolina studio, the album delineates the phases of love and becomes a map of comfort vs. claustrophobia. “Writing this album was my attempt at bringing some kind of order to the disaster that was 2020,” Fenne states. “By documenting the most vulnerable parts of that time, I felt like I reclaimed some kind of autonomy.”

This collision of repose and harsh reality is laid bare in Big Picture’s lead single “Lights Light Up,” a prophetic and insightful account of love at its temporary best. Written partially as a conversation, it tracks the tender details of a burgeoning relationship and recognizes the transitory nature of any shared thing; the bittersweet truth that you can only walk hand in hand with someone as long as you’re going in the same direction. With delicately interwoven guitar lines, propulsive rhythm and a chorus that offers the feeling of a voicemail left by someone from your past, it feels at once deeply personal and universal (“and you said so do you ever wanna leave here / and I said well that depends on the day / and you said oh do you even wanna be here / and I said well that depends on the way”)

“I’d never really written about love in the present tense before this, but even though I was still in love and not thinking about the end, there was something else going on subconsciously that led to a song about moving on before the moving on had begun,” comments Fenne. “When it came time to record, the band and I had been playing it live for a while and it’d become something joyful and positive, but when I started recording vocals, the lyrics made me cry. By that point the song was over a year old and I thought those wounds had healed but I guess it hurt to admit I’d been letting go of something while still trying to hold on.” The song’s accompanying video, shot throughout Brooklyn, was directed by Haoyan of America.

Watch Fenne Lily’s “Lights Light Up” Video

Though its creation took place amid personal and global turmoil, the ruminative yet candid Big Picture is Fenne’s most cohesive, resolute work to date, both lyrically and sonically. “This isn’t a sad album — it’s about as uplifting as my way of doing things will allow,” she says. “These songs explore worry and doubt and letting go, but those themes are framed brightly.” With confidence and quiet strength, each track provides insight into Fenne’s ever-changing view of love and, ultimately, its redefinition — love as a process, not something to be lost and found.

Notably, these 10 songs are Fenne’s first and only to have been written over the course of a relationship; 2018’s On Hold and 2020’s BREACH both confront the pain of retrospection, saying goodbye to a love that’s gone. Big Picture does the exact opposite — rooted firmly in the present, it traces the narrative of two people trying their hardest not to implode, together.

After writing Big Picture in the solitude of her Bristol flat, Fenne consciously aimed to make the recording process her most collaborative thus far. Co-producing with Brad Cook (Waxahatchee, Kevin Morby, Snail Mail) at his Durham studio, Fenne’s core intention was to make something that sonically reflected the kind of compact space the songs were written in; something warm, honest and comforting. Alongside Fenne’s touring band, the album features Christian Lee Hutson (guitar), Katy Kirby (vocals), and was mixed by Melina Duterte of Jay Som.

Big Picture’s cover art, constructed on a miniature scale by the artist Thomas Doyle, shows the collapse of a home confined within a bell jar and features several inch-high models of Fenne in various places throughout. This physical representation of a self-contained disaster is a reminder that we are small in the grand scheme of things which, for Fenne, is a relief: “We only really know the one world we find ourselves in at any given time” Fenne expands. “It’s only when that world changes or collapses that we realize there are other narratives available — that we’ve known only one of many possible ways to exist.”

Pre-order Big Picture

Big Picture Tracklist:
1. Map of Japan
2. Dawncolored Horse
3. Lights Light Up
4. 2+2
5. Superglued
6. Henry
7. Pick
8. In My Own Time
9. Red Deer Day
10. Half Finished

Fenne Lily Tour Dates:
Sat. Apr. 15 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
Sun. Apr. 16 – Dublin, IE @ Workman’s Club
Tue. Apr. 18 – Glasgow, UK @ St Luke’s
Wed. Apr. 19 – Manchester, UK @ YES
Thu. Apr. 20 – London, UK @ Islington Assembly Hall
Fri. Apr. 21 – Bristol, UK @ Trinity
Sun. Apr. 23 – Brighton, UK @ Patterns
Mon. Apr. 24 – Brussels, BE @ AB Club
Tue. Apr. 25 – Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet
Thu. Apr. 27 – Hamburg, DE @ Nochtspeicher
Fri. Apr. 28 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA Ideal Bar
Sat. Apr. 29 – Berlin, DE @ Frannz
Mon. May 1 – Munich, DE @ Ampere
Tue. May 2 – Cologne, DE @ Stadtgarten
Wed. May 3 – Paris, FR @ FMR
Thu. May 11 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room *
Fri. May 12 – Felton, CA @ Felton Music Hall *
Sat. May 13 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall *
Mon. May 15 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos *
Tue. May 16 – Portland, Oregon @ Aladdin Theater *
Wed. May 17 – Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre *
Fri. May 19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court *
Sat. May 20 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater *
Mon. May 22 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck *
Tue. May 23 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line *
Wed. May 24- Milwaukee, WI @ Back Room at Colectivo Coffee *
Thu. May 25 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
Fri. May 26 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Eccentric Cafe *
Sat. May 27 – Toronto, ON @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern *
Tue. May 30 – Portsmouth, NH @ 3S Artspace *
Wed. May 31 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair *
Fri. Jun. 2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *
Sat. Jun. 3 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *
Sun. Jun. 4 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat *
Mon. Jun. 5 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall *
Tue. Jun. 6 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West *
Wed. Jun. 7 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East *
Fri. Jun. 9 – Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge *
Sat. Jun. 10 – Fort Worth, TX @ Tulips *
Sun. Jun. 11 – Austin, TX @ The Parish *
Tue. Jun. 13 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf *
Thu. Jun. 15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge *
Fri. Jun. 16 – West Hollywood, CA @ Troubadour *

* = co-headline with Christian Lee Hutson

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

D-Tension tries to remember with whom he’s speaking on “The No Name Song.”

D-Tension releases the first single, “The No Name Song,” from the upcoming (April 2023) album Tales From The Pub. The album is the one thing D-Tension has yet to do: make a 100% solo album. No guests, no features, no help. D just locked himself in his home studio (his wife’s closet) and wrote, performed and produced an album of fresh new material. D plays guitar, bass, drums and drum programming, keys and sings every note on this record. When the album was done D wasn’t sure what to call it. Then mixing engineer Nick Zampiello of New Alliance East commented “these songs sound like tales from the pub”. That’s because they are. The album is about people watching and bar-life experiences.

“The No Name Song” is about a universal dilemma: That feeling when you meet someone but can’t remember their name ten seconds after they just told you what it was. How friendships and relationships never happened because you can’t remember their name. The song is also a secret easter egg / ode to songs that mention names.

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[Thanks to D-Tension.]

Mandy, Indiana return with a new single – “Injury Detail.”

Today, Manchester, UK-based band Mandy, Indiana return with new single, “Injury Detail,” via Fire Talk Records, their first new music since the release of 2021’s acclaimed ‘…’ EP. Mandy, Indiana – Valentine Caulfield (vocals/lyrics), Scott Fair (guitar/production), Simon Catling (synth) and Alex Macdougall (drums) – meld experimental noise and dance music, from drum machine snaps and pulsing bass to white noise and lo-fi scuff. Produced by Fair and Robin Stewart of Giant Swan, “Injury Detail” is a dramatic reintroduction, opening with a grand organ before morphing into a thumping dance track fit for a warehouse rave. “‘Injury Detail’ was inspired by the idea of being trapped in a liminal space, with the guitars creating a seemingly limitless and undefined landscape. The vocals act as a guide to possible salvation, or perhaps something of a more sinister intent,” explains Caulfield. The accompanying video was directed by Thomas Harrington Rawle.

Watch the Video for Mandy, Indiana’s “Injury Detail”

Formed out of the fertile Manchester independent scene, Mandy, Indiana generate a sound that is at once chaotic and precision engineered – abrasive beats and gnarled guitars sit in thickets of distortion around Caulfield’s commanding vocals sung in her native language, French. Their songs, which incorporate found samples and field recordings, are recorded in a variety of spaces, from rehearsal rooms and home studios to cavernous industrial mills and shopping malls. Mandy, Indiana’s first recordings emerged around 2019, culminating in their debut, 2021’s ‘…’ EP, which featured a heavy-hitting remix from Daniel Avery. Its single, “Bottle Episode,” was named a Best Song of 2021 by Pitchfork, who recognized the “perverse playfulness” of Caufield’s grim lyrics, and Paste, who hailed it “an exhilarating darkness for the bold to brave.” The EP also led to Stereogum naming Mandy, Indiana a Best New Band of 2021. Since then, they’ve become a live favorite in the UK, supporting the likes of Squid, IDLES, Gilla Band, Wet Leg, and SCALPING, along with festival appearances at Pitchfork Paris, End of the Road, and more. The band will be making their US debut at SXSW 2023 as part of the official lineup. “Injury Detail” is a taste of more music to come from Mandy, Indiana this year.

Listen to “Injury Detail”

Mandy, Indiana Tour Dates
Fri. Feb. 3 – Manchester, UK @ Yes
Sat. Feb. 4 – Birkenhead, UK @ Future Yard
Sun. Feb. 5 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
Fri. March 10 – Sun. March 19 – Austin, TX @ SXSW

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[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]