To celebrate the release of human futures, the fantastic new album Dear Nora (out now!), Orindal Records is hosting a Fall Showcase on Sunday, October 30, just outside of Chicago in Berwyn, IL.
Please note that the showcase has been moved from The Hideout to FitzGerald's! If you purchased tickets for the Hideout date, your purchase will be refunded. Tickets are not transferable.
“Defeat” is the latest chamber folk stunner from Chicago, IL singer, composer & multi-instrumentalist Macie Stewart (also of FINOM). On “Defeat,” Macie’s bell-clear vocals are accompanied by a taut arrangement of acoustic guitars, violins & percussion (all performed by Stewart), as well as flutes performed by fellow Chicagoan V.V. Lightbody. "Defeat" was recorded by Dorian Gehring & mixed by Dave Vettraino.
"Defeat is about confronting overextension and overcommitment" Macie says of the track. "Sometimes you say yes so many times- to work, to hangs, to relationships, that you cease to bring your best in all those avenues.”
Macie sings over a gorgeous swell of strings
& flutes: “Composing a word to take back the meaning / I promised my best and
that’s not what I’m giving.”
"Defeat" is available as a standalone digital single for North America. Much like previous single "Maya, Please," "Defeat" is also available in the UK & Europe as a bonus track on Full Time Hobby Records' UK/EU edition of Macie Stewart’s debut album,Mouth Full of Glass. Stream "Defeat" HERE.
The single is accompanied by a sumptuous music video by director/editor Sid Branca & cinematographer/colorist Greg Stephen Reigh. Watch it here:
"sinaloan restaurant" is the third & final advance single from Dear Nora's forthcoming album, human futures, out October 28 on Orindal! Find "sinaloan restaurant" on streaming services HERE.
Katy Davidson from Dear Nora explains:
"I
pulled the lyric ideas for this song from a wild array of personal and
cultural references, but ultimately it's about family separation, shadow
forces, and the pandemic's effect on the civic/commercial landscape. I
grew up in the western United States, in a town where a classic
"sit-down" Mexican restaurant was the undeniable cultural hub. Because
of this, Mexican food has always been my comfort food. I think that most
towns and cities in the western US have a place like this, even in “red
states.” But the pandemic shifted so much ground, and it was unsettling
to witness some of those establishments close. And the horrid politics
playing out in the foreground amplified the unease. My friend Dave says
this song feels like magical realism. I hadn't thought about it that way
when I wrote it, but I agree. The first two lines were said to me by my
partner's mother Miriam, who had advanced Alzheimer's disease. “Have
you crossed the line to Mexico? My dad died many times years ago.” It
was a rare moment where she shared semi-lucid thoughts, so I wrote them
down immediately. We were drinking steamy coffee on a winter morning,
wrapped in blankets, and looking out at the desert morning. Miriam died
during the pandemic.
Re: contributors to the composition/recording:
Greg Campanile wrote that insanely dank beat.
Zach Burba wrote that bass loop when I gave him a Lou Reed prompt.
Nicholas Krgovich played some of those ethereal keyboard moments that we tricked out in pre-mixing.
I
recorded all the “oooh” vocals with “Baby” by Donnie & Joe Emerson
in mind, but I had also just had a sip of mezcal and it went down the
wrong pipe, so I was really fighting through a burning sensation in my
throat while trying to be real suave."
The new editions feature extra heavyweight jackets redesigned by Jess Jones & printed by Stoughton Printing Co. The LPs come in both classic black & sparkly metallic color variations (metallic silver for A Shut-In's Prayer, metallic gold for Nephew in the Wild). The 160 gram vinyl LPs are being pressed by Smashed Plastic from brand new lacquers cut by Matthew Barnhart at Chicago Mastering Service.
Both LPs will be availabe for purchase at all of Advance Base's November & December tour dates. Pre-orders will ship no later than November 14.
In November & December, Macie Stewart will support Widowspeak's European tour, performing solo arrangements of songs from her debut solo album, Mouth Full of Glass. At the end of the tour, Stewart will play her own headlining show at The Sebright Arms in London, England on December 9. Don't miss Macie Stewart live! Tickets for all dates are on sale now!
"This song is about: the road, the metaphor of the road, the never ending journey, the horizon you never reach, the continuous line. It's about where I’m from – Arizona, America. It's about the beautiful and the ugly, light and darkness, the ever changing landscape, the forces outside of our control shaping the landscape (maybe like capitalism carving our cultural landscape like wind). But of course it's also about shadows. You can hit the road, try to put shadows behind you. They're still there. But not just on a personal level. Our country's shadows, etc. I tried to end the song with some forgiveness – the skulls are dancing, the party has gone wild. And then ultimately death
and/or transformation.
In this case, the video made the song. I filmed what I saw while I was on a road trip, and later, I wrote the soundtrack to the video and the experience.
I also included some footage for a never-released video for "White Fur" that my friend Josh Brine captured in 2018. And the double exposure fits with the theme of the palimpsest – the layers upon layers of time, echoed in geological layers revealed in the carved landscapes of the desert southwest."
human futures, the latest album by Dear Nora and the group's first recorded in a commercial recording studio, will be released by Orindal Records on October 28, 2022. Over the album's twelve tracks & thirty-four minutes, there are new kinds of songs, old kinds of songs, there is still the voice of beauty and sanity that we’ve come to know and love over the years. On songs like leadoff track and first single “scrolls of doom,” Dear Nora founder and guiding force Katy Davidson leans more into the producer’s role than that of singer-songwriter – coaxing bandmates Greg Campanile (drums), Nicholas Krgovich (piano/synth) and Zach Burba (bass/synth/drums) through chord changes, beats, and stylistic blends, while writing vocal melodies on the spot. Everyone brings the most interesting parts out of each other and themselves. Here, Katy’s more like the ‘top-line’ writer, composing the melodies, harmonies and lyrics, almost treating the other elements as if they were found – making this Dear Nora record much more collaborative than past ones and particularly contemporary in its process.
Today, we're thrilled to share human futures' leadoff track "scrolls of doom" and its accompanying music video. Watch it here:
Pre-order human futures on "Skull" opaque natural vinyl, classic black vinyl & digital formats HERE.
Catch Dear Nora on their fall US tour!
Oct 30, 2022- Chicago, IL @ The Hideout(w/ Jill Whit & Moon Racer) Nov 01, 2022- Portland, ME @ SPACE Nov 02, 2022- Burlington, VT @ Radio Bean Nov 03, 2022- Cambridge, MA @ Lilypad Nov 04, 2022- Providence, RI @ AS220 Nov 05, 2022- Greenfield, MA @ Ten Forward Nov 07, 2022- Brooklyn, NY @ Baby's All Right Nov 09, 2022- Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (w/ 2nd Grade) Dec 04, 2022- Los Angeles, CA @ 2280 Arts Dec 07, 2022- Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge Dec 10, 2022- Seattle, WA @ The Vera- Project
Heartmind, the 10th album by CASS McCOMBS, is out now!
In his review for Pitchfork, Sam Sodomsky wries "Across
a casually sublime album, Cass McCombs is at his most confident and
intentional, constantly returning to the imagery of music and the
casualties of a life devoted to making and sharing art."
In their "Album of the Month" review, Uncut calls Heartmind "One of the most impressive bodies of work of the century so far."
The Fader writes "Heartmind is as rich & confounding as anything that McCombs has released. In its melodies & structures, it has the same wristwatch-like quality as all of his best work, beautifully simple on the surface despite the intricate complexity underneath.”
Orindal has an exclusive cassette edition of Heartmind (featuring a 7-panel, foldout lyric sheet) & it's available HERE.
Chicago singer, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Macie Stewart (she/they) returns with “Maya, Please,” their first single/video since their debut album, Mouth Full of Glass, released last year via Orindal Records. Following the same sonic path as Mouth Full of Glass’s avante chamber folk, “Maya, Please” is a tender morsel of meditative acoustic balladry, featuring fingerstyle guitar, understated vocals and lushly-arranged strings, all performed by Stewart. The accompanying animated video was drawn and directed by Izzy Vasquez.
From Stewart:
"This song moves in and out of internal and external experience, all revolving around forgiveness. It is a conversation being had inside yourself asking for forgiveness, and ultimately finding the ability to forgive yourself. I wrote the strings at home and recorded them at Fox Hall with Dorian Gehring."
"Maya, Please" is available to stream & purchase from Bandcamp.
Please note that if you're still holding tickets for Advance Base & Karima Walker's originally scheduled April shows at these venues, they're still valid for the new dates!
On August 19, Orindal Records will release the cassette edition of our old friend Cass McCombs' excellent new album, Heartmind.
On Heartmind, Cass McCombs
enters the double-digit-album phase of his career, a quantitatively
rarified place for any songwriter; rarer still, though, is the fact that
he does not yet seem to have settled into a qualitative sound or
pattern, of singing the same thought twice (or perhaps even once).
Heartmind cassettes feature a metallic silver imprint & a 7-panel, full color foldout j-card featuring complete album lyrics & credits. Tapes will ship on or before the August 19 release date & can be pre-ordered HERE.
CDs, LPs & digital downloads of Heartmind are available from ANTI- Records.
