New York, NY (Top40 Charts / Company) Last month, Arc Iris released their second studio album Moon Saloon on Bella Union. The album follows their critically acclaimed self-titled debut that was released in 2014. Produced by the group and mixed by electronic producer
David Wrench of FKA Twigs and
Caribou fame, Moon Saloon showcases beat-heavy melodies and textural, groove-riding rhythms.
The band is currently in the midst of a massive US and European tour that includes dates with Superhuman Happiness and John Grant. Find a full list of tour dates below. Today, Brooklyn Vegan premiered the video for "Paint With The Sun" alongside a feature Q&A.
Stream the album via Spotify and purchase on iTunes or Amazon.
Arc Iris is comprised of lead singer and lyricist Jocie Adams, keyboardist Zach Tenorio-Miller and drummer Ray Belli. Adams previously spent eight years as a key member of The Low Anthem, effortlessly zipping from hammer dulcimer to clarinet to bass to vocals, sometimes barely pausing to take a breath.
NPR
Music premiered the video for the album's title track and said "'Moon Saloon' is what it feels like when you stay up late thinking about the way things could've gone. It's a heartbreaker enveloped in deeply beautiful and complicated textures and layers of sound."
SPIN shared "Paint With The Sun," the second song to be released from the forthcoming album. Matt Malone said "The Providence-based trio writes astronomical music, with vast diversity in instrumentation, lyrical themes, and melodies," and continues, "With the mythologizing pen of
Joanna Newsom and the brass sections of Florence and the Machine, Arc Iris widens a story to a moral epic."
Stereogum premiered the video for "Kaleidoscope" and said the track "melds syncopated boom-bap drums, multi-layered classical flourishes, wandering synths, ringing guitars and Adams� pure, beautiful voice for a constantly reengaging, regenerative excursion." Consequence of Sound named the track one of the "Top Songs of The Week" upon its release and said "Arc Iris fuse the sounds of classical strings, psychedelic percussive rolls, electronics, timeless guitar tones, and enchanting harmonics to create a sound far larger and more encompassing than its singular elements."
Acclaim for Moon Saloon:
"a widely accessible and shockingly fun listen. With her shapeshifting compositions and breathy vibrato-laden vocals, Adams most resembles a mid-'70s-era Joni Mitchell..." AllMusic
"Fetching but fleeting melodies ride a wave of guitars, horns, strings, keyboards, banjo, pedal steel, layered wordless vocals and electronic whooshes and bleeps." Associated Press
"�dizzying arrangements around Adams� songs, bolstered by the fleet-fingered accompaniment of a sprawling assembly of instrumentalists. The music is marked by whimsical ambition, reveling in the jangly chaos of horns and strings and the vast expressiveness of synths and samples." WBUR
�All those bands who think they're being experimental because they've put a sitar sample on one track should be forced to listen to Moon Saloon, so that they can learn just how much you can actually do with this thing called music� On Moon Saloon classical, pop, jazz, folk and the rest all play nicely together.� Sunday Times � Album of the Week
�Jocie Adams is a modern renaissance woman� There's something of
St. Vincent or
Dirty Projectors in the collision of textures and genres but it's kept in check by gorgeous hooks and a willingness to let things groove.� Evening Standard � 4 Stars ****
�This joyous, head-spinning dash to beyond the yellow brick road audaciously fuses the chamber chorale, folk, the theatrical and torch song to create an album which could soundtrack a cabaret hosted by the Wizard of Oz himself.� MOJO
�On Arc Iris' second album, Adams somehow finds a throughline from bucolic Laurel Canyon balladry to quirky lounge jazz to brassy fanfares to bluegrass banjo, all performed with the theatrical flair favoured by her friend St Vincent.� Uncut � 7/10
Tour Dates:
September 30 � Pittsburgh, PA @ WYEP Presents at Pittsburgh Winery
October 1 � Cleveland, OH @ Mechanic Street Concerts
October 3 � Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place
October 4 � Rochester, NY @ Abilene
October 6 � Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade*
October 9 � Ashfield, MA @ Signature
Sounds Presents at the Ashfield Lake House
October 12 � Portland, ME @
State Theatre Presents at Empire*
October 13 � Cambridge, MA @ Lizard Lounge*
October 14 � Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre*
October 15 � Burlington, VT @ Signal Kitchen*
October 16 � Ossipee, NH @ Three Pork Hill*
October 20 � Leeds, UK @ Brudenel Social Club
October 22 � Paris, France @ Pop Up du Label
October 24 � Amsterdam, The Netherlands @ Paradiso
October 25 � Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique (Witloofbar)
October 28 � Heidelberg, Germany @ Karlstorbahnohof**
October 30 � Utrecht, The Netherlands @ Tivoli Vredenburg**
November 1 � Frankfurt, Germany @ Mousonturm**
November 2 � Leipzig, Germany @ Taubchenthal**
November 3 � Berlin, Germany @ Berghain**
November 5 � Aberfeldy, UK @ Aberfeldy Festival
November 7 � London, UK @ Hoxton
Square Bar & Kitchen
November 9 � Bristol, UK @ Louisiana
November 10 � Brighton, UK @ Green Door
November 17 � Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
November 18 � Dallas, TX @
Double Wide
November 19 � Ft. Worth, TX @ Lola's Saloon
November 21 �
Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
November 22 � Albuquerque, NM @ Tortuga Gallery
November 26 � Phoenix, AZ @
Rebel Lounge
November 29 � San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
December 1 � Los Angeles, CA @ Satellite
December 2 � San Francisco, CA @ Brick and Mortar
December 9 � Seattle, WA @ High Dive
December 10 � Portland, OR @ Pickathon Presents at Bunk Bar
December 11 � Walla Walla, WA @ Billsville West
December 14 � Boise, ID @ Neurolux
* w/ Superhuman Happiness
** w/ John Grant
