Archers Of Loaf are really coming back. The beloved North Carolina indie-rock heroes, fronted by future Crooked Fingers leader Eric Bachmann, came together in 1991 and released four albums in quick succession before breaking up in 1998. In 2011, they reunited to play the occasional live show. They’ve been working on new music since at least 2018. And now “Raleigh Days,” their first song in 22 years, is finally here. As Bachmann explains:

I built a birdhouse on the back of my van. The seeds of “Raleigh Days” were spit out of the circular opening on the front of this birdhouse by an angry cardinal. One day last summer, as we were barreling down the highway hell-bent for leather, this antagonistic little redbird stuck her head in through the back window and exclaimed, “Great songs often come out so easily that they practically write themselves. I tried to help you, but you idiots ruined it; and now you’re going to have to finish it all by yourselves!” Then, in a white-hot flash, we smashed head-on at 130 mph into an 18-wheeler carrying a herd of giant elk. It was all blood, fire, fur, and feathers snowing down through that old familiar smell of boiling oil and scorched earth. Fortunately — after I regained consciousness — I was able to make guitar picks from some shards of elk antler I found scattered around the accident site. It wasn’t planned per se, but it just kind of worked out that I used one of these picks to track my guitar part on “Raleigh Days,” and I think it sounds pretty good.

Listen and check out Archers Of Loaf’s new spring and summer tour dates below.

TOUR DATES:
02/21 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle [SOLD OUT] +
02/22 Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West +
02/07 Nashville, TN @ Basement East %
03/13 Woodstock, NY @ The Colony #
03/14 Boston, MA @ Royale #
04/10 Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle
04/11 Birmingham, AL @ Saturn %
04/17 Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts #
04/18 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar #
04/30 St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall ^
05/01 Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck ^
05/02 Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room ^
05/03 Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
05/15 Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Art Co.
05/16 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
05/17 Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall Downstairs
06/04 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
06/06 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom #
06/19 Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry @
06/20 Washington, DC @ Black Cat @
07/09 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
07/10 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
07/11 Seattle, WA @ Showbox
07/12 Vancouver, BC @ Imperial
07/24 Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line *
07/25 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean *

+ w/ Gauche
% w/ Peachy
# w/ SAVAK
^ w/ The Hecks
@ w/ Joyero
* w/ Ratboys