New York, NY (Top40 Charts) On August 19, the New England based Arc Iris will release a new album called Moon Saloon. Produced by the group and mixed by electronic producer
David Wrench of FKA Twigs and
Caribou fame, the album showcases beat-heavy melodies and textural, groove-riding rhythms.
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."
Last week, SPIN premiered "Paint With The Sun," the second song to be released from the forthcoming album. Writer 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."
Lead singer and lyricist Jocie Adams, keyboardist Zach Tenorio-Miller, and drummer Ray Belli form the core of Arc Iris, all virtuosic musicians in their own right. Adams spent eight years as a key member of indie darlings The Low Anthem, effortlessly zipping from hammer dulcimer to clarinet to bass to vocals, sometimes barely pausing to take a breath. As the band members see it, Moon Saloon works like a song cycle that parallels the arc of Everyman�s passage through modern day dilemmas. According to Adams: �The album is meant to be cathartic. There�s an imbalance in everyone�s lives. When there�s often so much going on, we yearn for simplicity.�
Adams wrote most of the songs during a songwriting retreat on an island in New Hampshire�s Lake Winnipesaukee several months before the recording session. For Adams, it was a week-long creative rush with no electricity, no running water, no cell phones�just a bed in a cabin and an acoustic guitar. She took her work back to Providence, where she and Tenorio-Miller worked on the songs, layering sounds, developing ideas, �transforming them into the world of Arc Iris,� Tenorio-Miller recalls.
Arc Iris has just announced a US and European tour. Find the full list of dates below. Moon Saloon is currently available for pre-order at www.arcirismusic.com.
Track List:
1) Kaleidoscope
2) Kingdom Come
3) Paint With The Sun
4) Pretending
5) She Arose
6) Lilly
7) Johnny
8) Saturation Brain
9) Rainy Days
10) Moon Saloon
Tour Dates:
8/13 - Providence, RI - Foofest
9/7 - New Haven, CT - Cafe Nine*
9/8 - Willimantic, CT - The Eclectic
9/9 - Elizabethtown, NY - Otis Mountain Getdown
9/10 - Plymouth, VT - Popolo: The Great Outdoors
9/14 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot and Saddle*
9/16 - Washington, DC - Songbyrd
Music House*
9/18 - Charlotte, NC - The Evening Muse
9/19 - Asheville, NC - The Mothlight
9/20 - Carrboro, NC -- Cat's Cradle
9/28 - Columbus, OH - Scarlet & Grey
9/30 - Pittsburgh PA - Pittsburgh Winery
10/1 - Cleveland, OH - Mechanic Street Concerts
10/6 - Brooklyn, NY - Rough Trade*
10/9 - Ashfield, MA - Signature
Sounds Presents at the Ashfield Lake House
10/12 - Portland, ME -
State Theatre Presents at Empire*
10/13 - Cambridge, MA - Lizard Lounge*
10/14 - Providence, RI - Columbus Theatre*
10/15 - Burlington, VT - Signal Kitchen*
10/16 - Ossipee, NH - Three Pork Hill*
10/22 - Paris, FR - Le Pop-Up Du Label
10/24 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Kleine Zaal
10/25 - Brussels, BE - Botanique
10/27 - Brighton, UK - The Green Door Store
10/28 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Games Room
10/29 - Manchester, UK - Sound Control
10/30 - Glasgow, UK - Broadcast
11/1 - Bristol, UK - The Louisiana
11/2 - London, UK - Hoxton
Square Bar & Kitchen
11/17 - Austin, TX - The Mohawk
11/18 - Dallas, TX -
Double Wide
11/22 - Albuquerque, NM - Tortuga Gallery
11/26 - Phoenix, AZ -
Rebel Lounge
*with Superhuman Happiness
