Hey, you know what's a good song? Motherfucking "Svefn-g-englar," the deathlessly beautiful 1999 classic from Sigur Rós. I'd read a whole lot about Sigur Rós before I finally bought an import copy of the Ágætis Byrjun CD for like $20, and that's a heavy burden to put on a hyped-up new album. That time, though, the hype was justified. I heard "Svefn-g-englar," and I felt like I was in space. North Carolina indie-dance-folk-pop duo Sylvan Esso evidently agree, since their new single samples Jónsi Birgisson's operatic wail-sigh from that song.
It has been about four years since Sylvan Esso surprise-released their last album No Rules Sandy. Both members of the group have been plenty busy since that record. Amelia Meath is all over Kevin Morby's Little Wide Open album, for instance, and Nick Sanborn recently got together with Collections Of Colonies Of Bees' Chris Rosenau to release the experimental improv album Two earlier this year. Last month, Sylvan Esso released their single "Hot Slob." Today, they announce a new LP called Ow ∞.
Ow ∞ will be Sylvan Esso's first album since the started their own label Psychic Hotline, and they've been steadily tinkering with it for the past four years at their Chapel Hill studio. They brought in a wide group of musicians, including Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner, the Mountain Goats' Matt Douglas, Bon Iver's BJ Burton, Wilco's Glenn Kotche, and Sanborn's Megafaun bandmate Joe Westerlund, as well as Daniel Aged, Jake Lupen, TJ Maiani, James Mapley-Brittle, and Buddy Ross. In a press release, Meath says:
One of my favorite ways of producing in general is to come up with an idea and then take out a third of it. One, it makes things interesting and exciting, but also it makes your ear ask a question. And it kind of forces the listener to be creative, as well. To try to fill that space with something, which I find as a listener to be really exciting and interesting. Particularly with pop music, because it's all about fulfilling a promise. You know this melodic structure, you know we're going to the four here. Not doing it is always the thing that makes people fall in love with a song or a person.
Living hurts forever, and then it stops. But also it’s a little silly. And that’s how I feel. If you’re going to keep participating in the world, and in your life, you have to commit to being hurt. And if you aren't putting yourself in the way of potential hurt, you miss out on a lot of potential opportunities. So in some ways it’s like a rallying cry, saying "I’m gonna get hurt forever, and that’s OK."
"Concrete Glen" the lead single with the Sigur Rós sample, is a funky track with a big, tumbling breakbeat and a woozy walking bassline. I get a bit of a Luscious Jackson vibe from it, and I mean that as a big compliment. The Sigur Rós sample isn't that important to the song, but it's cool.
Sylvan Esso will do a whole lot of touring in the months ahead. They'll also bring their Good Moon Festival back to Durham. It goes down Oct. 8-10, and Sylvan Esso will headline a lineup that also includes Tyler Childers, Meshell Ndegeocello, MJ Lenderman, and Silvana Estrada, among many others. You can find the details here. Below, check out the "Concrete Glen" video, directed by Aaron Anderson and Eric Timothy Carlson, as well as the Ow ∞ tracklist and Sylvan Esso's tour dates.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Entertainment & Coca-Cola"
02 "Flood Season"
03 "Hot Slob"
04 "Concrete Glen"
05 "Back Again"
06 "Ribbon"
07 "Sledge"
08 "Right To Left"
09 "Good At Pain"
10 "Jessica"
11 "On & On"
12 "Plastic Sword"
TOUR DATES:
7/31 - Burlington, VT @ Burlington Waterfront Park
9/12 - Abiquiu, NM @ Blossoms & Bones
9/20 - Brighton, UK @ Resident Music (In-Store Performance)
9/21 - London, UK @ Rough Trade (In-Store Performance)
10/01 - Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
10/02-03 - Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
10/05-06 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
10/08-10 - Durham, NC @ Good Moon
10/12 - Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
10/14 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
10/15 - New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
10/16 - Portland, ME @ State Theatre
10/17 - Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues
10/19 - Toronto, ON @ HISTORY
10/21 - Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
10/22 - Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed Indoors
10/23-24 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
O10/31 - 11/01 - Kakegawa, Japan @ Festival de Frue
2/19 - Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
2/20 - Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
2/22-23 - Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
2/25 - Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
2/26 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
2/27 - Santa Ana, CA @ Observatory
03/01 - Del Mar, CA @ The Sound
03/02 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
03/04 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Rockwell at the Complex
03/05-06 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
03/08 - Austin, TX @ ACL Live at The Moody Theater
03/09 - Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
03/11 - New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s
03/12 - Birmingham, AL @ Iron City
03/13 - Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
Ow ∞ is out 9/11 on Psychic Hotline. Pre-order it here. A bunch of record stores will do 9/3 album listening events; details here.
