Today I'm headed back to Athens, Ohio, the pastoral southeastern Ohio college town where I spent my undergrad years, for the Ohio University Music Industry Summit. (Dev Hynes will be there!) In a beautiful coincidence, dreamy, jangly Athens post-punks the Laughing Chimes have announced their new album today too.
Behind Your Blue Fields, out in May, is the follow-up to last year's Slumberland-released Whispers In The Speech Machine, but it does not represent a linear progression forward. The self-released collection presents songs the Chimes created for a sophomore album that never came to pass, before the decision to "go goth" and incorporate post-punk elements into their sound. The band's Evan Seurkamp explains:
Many of the songs on this compilation (“King of Birds”, “Zephyr”, “It’s 3 Until It’s 4”, and “Behind Your Blue Fields” to name a few) were written in mind for a Laughing Chimes record but were shelved after embracing the decision to “go goth” on our second album. In the summer of 2022, we were dubbing this sunnier version of our sophomore record Behind Your Blue Fields. … Even though these demos/songs got the boot, it’s great to share them with you now as a glimpse into a “what could have been” second album that never fully came to fruition.”
I understand the need to evolve and follow their muse, but the pair of lo-fi tracks they've shared from this project sound great to me. "Trapeze Baby" is catchy and propulsive, "Behind Your Blue Fields" even more so. Hear both below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Small Town Racecars"
02 "Trapeze Baby"
03 "Pharmacies"
04 "Behind Your Blue Fields"
05 "Newshound Pageants"
06 "Seasons"
07 "Zephyr"
08 "Lunchbox In Stereo"
09 "It's 3 Until It's 4"
10 "Your Voice Sounds So Strange"
11 "King Of Birds"
12 "On An Electric Taxi Cab"
13 "If I Could Land Your Heart"
14 "Behind Your Blue Fields [4-track Demo]"
15 "Behind Your Blue Fields [8-track Demo]"
16 "Cats Go Car Watching [8-track Demo]"
17 "He Never Finished The Thought [4-track]"
Behind Your Blue Fields is out 5/22. Pre-order it here.
