Yay! Greg Mendez is back! We last heard from the Philly singer-songwriter in 2024 with First Time / Alone, which was one of our favorite EPs of the year. Now he's announcing his new album Beauty Land — his debut for Dead Oceans — and a North American tour.
The quiet, candid lead single "I Wanna Feel Pretty" comes with a video shot on 35mm video directed by Rhys Scarabosio. Mendez says:
I spent most of my childhood in the suburbs, surrounded by the American Dream. Grand and lonely, strip malls and housing developments. Cathedrals of consumerism and reconstituted culture. The stores weren’t built for the towns, the towns were built for the stores. No one really belongs. The dream is close enough to smell but as soon as you reach out, your hand passes right through — a hologram of a promise. I hoped this video would feel like that.
Most of Beauty Land was recorded straight to tape in Mendez's home studio in Philly. "I Wanna Feel Pretty" is only two minutes but each line he sings feels like its own little world. He sings casually of getting a new job, getting robbed, getting drunk, then lets surrealism take over: "I checked into rehab, 7 o’clock/ And tried not to be bad/ Before I escaped through a hole in my sock/ Then half of the place followed me to the rocks." Check it out below along with the tour dates.
TRACKLIST:
01 "I Wanna Feel Pretty"
02 "Looking Out Your Window"
03 "Mary / Dreaming"
04 "Everybody Wants To Be Your Friend (Except Me)"
05 "Gentle Love"
06 "Frog"
07 "It Breaks My Heart"
08 "Sunsick"
09 "No Evil"
10 "Geranium"
11 "Interlude In D Minor"
12 "Serving Drinks"
13 "So Mean"
14 "Concussion"
TOUR DATES:
06/10 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd #
06/11 – Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall #
06/12 – Asheville, NC @ Static Age #
06/13 – Nashville, TN @ The Blue Room #
06/15 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop #
06/16 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon #
06/17 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry #
06/19 – Iowa City, IA @ Gabe's Oasis #
06/20 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall #
06/21 – Detroit, MI @ Lager House #
06/23 – Toronto, ON @ Sound Garage #
06/24 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall #
06/25 – Portland, ME @ SPACE Gallery #
06/26 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair #
06/27 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom #
06/30 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg #
07/01 – Kingston, NY @ Tubby's #
07/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church #
07/31 – Durham, NC @ Cat's Cradle Back Room ^
08/01 – Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 ^
08/02 – New Orleans, LA @ Siberia ^
08/04 – Austin, TX @ 29th Street Ballroom ^
08/05 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada ^
08/08 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar ^
08/09 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar ^
08/10 – Los Angeles, CA @ Sid the Cat Auditorium ^
08/12 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent ^
08/14 – Portland, OR @ Polaris ^
08/15 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza ^
08/16 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret ^
08/18 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club ^
08/19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court ^
08/21 – Denver, CO @ Lost Lake ^
08/22 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar ^
08/23 – St Louis, MO @ Off Broadway ^
08/24 – Newport, KY @ Southgate House Revival ^
08/25 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Bottlerocket ^
# with Scarlet Rae
^ with Maria BC
Beauty Land is out 5/29 via Dead Oceans. Pre-order it here.
