SPILL NEWS: LAND OF TALK ANNOUNCE THE FIRST NEW ALBUM IN SEVEN YEARS | DEBUT NEW TRACK “INNER LOVER” AND REVEAL TOUR DATES

LAND OF TALK ANNOUNCE THE FIRST NEW ALBUM IN SEVEN YEARS

DEBUT NEW TRACK “INNER LOVER” AND REVEAL TOUR DATES

Land of Talk – the Montreal-based band led by Elizabeth Powell – has announced its first new album in seven years, Life After Youth, set for release May 19th on Dine Alone Records in Canada and Saddle Creek in The U.S.

Produced and mixed by John Agnello (Kurt Vile, Sonic Youth) and Jace Lasek (Besnard Lakes), and featuring Sharon Van Etten, Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), Sal Maida (Roxy Music/Sparks), and The Besnard Lakes, the album is a collection of songs that sees Powell in the finest voice of her career.

Powell says, “‘Inner Lover’ is a song about self-determination, self-love, self-ownership. It’s about the freedom to live, and love as one chooses.” Life After Youth can now be pre-ordered via Dine Alone Records.

Life After Youth is a set of songs that got Powell through tough times. And now, they can do the same for you. Since forming Land of Talk in 2006, the one certainty in Powell’s life has been uncertainty. Her band has gone from being one of Montreal’s most brash, buzzy indie rock acts to one of its most elusive and enigmatic. After recording Land of Talk’s debut EP, Applause Cheer Boo Hiss, she lost her drummer. After releasing Land of Talk’s first full-length record produced by Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Some Are Lakes (2008), she lost her voice. And after the release of the “breakthrough” (SPIN) Cloak and Cipher LP (2010), Powell lost her will.

In 2011, all of her new work was suddenly lost when her laptop crashed, taking all her demos down with it. The combination of post-tour fatigue and the demoralizing loss of her new material brought her to a dead stop. Returning to Orillia, Ontario Elizabeth was dealt an even more devastating blow on New Year’s Day 2013: her father suffered a stroke and Elizabeth’s energies were re-focused on caring for him.

Elizabeth eventually reunited with original Land of Talk drummer Bucky Wheaton. Before long, the two were woodshedding new songs in Toronto at Broken Social Scene/Do Make Say Think bassist Charles Spearin’s home jam space, and then booking time at Montreal’s Breakglass Studios with the Besnard Lakes’ Jace Lacek, who recorded the first Land of Talk EP. “Without sounding too gushy, it’s been a beautiful reunion,” Elizabeth says. “This album became my homecoming to Montreal.”

From Montreal to Orillia to Toronto to New Jersey (where she recorded with Agnello) and back to Montreal again, the story of Life After Youth resembles one of those Raiders of the Lost Ark maps with the red routing lines bouncing back and forth into a blur—“which is kind of like what my brain is like,” Powell says with a laugh. But from that mental and geographic scramble, a work of great focus and clarity has emerged. To paraphrase the late David Bowie, it’s been seven years, and Powell’s brain hurt a lot. But she stands today as the patient-zero case study for Life After Youth’s therapeutic powers.

Life After Youth Track Listing

1. Yes You Were
2. This Time
3. Loving
4. What Was I Thinking?
5. Spiritual Intimidation
6. Heartcore
7. Inner Lover
8. World Made
9. In Florida
10. Macabre

Tour Dates

6/13 – Allston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
6/14 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
6/16 – Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
6/18 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
6/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
6/20 – Winnipeg, MB @ The Good Will Social Club
6/22 – Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo’s
6/23 – Edmonton, AB @ The Needle Vinyl Tavern
6/24 – Calgary, AB @ Sled Island – King Edward Hotel “King Eddy”
6/26 – Vancouver, BC @ Imperial
6/27 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
6/28 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
6/30 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
7/02 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Cemetery

Artist Links

(Background Photo Credit: Tyler Knight)

Please leave this field empty

STAY UP-TO-DATE
WITH OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER!

* Mandatory Field

Check your inbox or spam folder now (just in case!) to confirm your subscription.