David Bazan is recording under the Pedro The Lion name again, with a new album called Phoenix on the way and a bunch of 2019 tour dates lined up. We spoke to Bazan about getting the band back together, symbolically speaking, about a year ago. And then, back in October, he announced the album with lead single “Yellow Bike.” Today Bazan and company have a second Phoenix single for us ahead of the album’s mid-January release.

Like “Yellow Bike” before it, “Model Homes” pulls from Bazan’s childhood memories. In this case it’s about begging to visit model homes after church lets out, the air conditioning a respite from bored Sunday afternoons alone in a bedroom. Against the snaking sound of gleaming, melancholy guitars, it’s the sound of wide-eyed wonder tempered by anxiety and nostalgic distance, of “wondering how our lives would be” and “never not dreaming big” and “tired of ‘it’s not if but when.'” At the climax, Bazan wonders aloud, “When will the wait be over?”

Listen to “Model Homes” below.

TOUR DATES:
02/08 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux
02/09 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
02/10 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
02/12 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
02/13 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom Lounge
02/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
02/16 – San Diego, CA @ The Irenic
02/17 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
02/19 – Oakland, CA @ The New Parish
02/20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
02/22 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
02/23 – Tacoma, WA @ Alma Mater
02/24 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret
05/03-05/05 – Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Festival

Phoenix is out 1/18 via Polyvinyl. Pre-order it here.