Los Angeles, CA (Top40 Charts/ It's Alive Media) Los Angeles singer / songwriter
Xander Smith (https://xandersmithmusic.com) announced today that his sophomore solo release Outside will be available on July 14 in
Europe (via
Cargo Records), and on July 15 in the U.S. (Song and Dance Records) and New Zealand & Australia (via
Music Fix).
Special guests on Outside feature an impressive cast of musicians & friends including Joy Division &
New Order original members Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris. Sumner sings and plays his trademark melodica on the first single, "Say Anything." Phil Cunningham (also of New Order) co-wrote some songs and appears on the album as well as many gifted players who record and/or tour with Jack Johnson,
Johnny Marr Band, Draco Rosa, Herb Alpert/Lani Hall, The Go-Go's and Adam Lambert. These talented musicians all put their stamp on this new album. Musical nods to legends Nick Drake, Big Star, Jack Johnson,
Bright Eyes and
Paul Simon are all apparent as Smith presents his stories and melodies, blending in these early influences with his own honest, straight forward approach.
In support of the new record,
Xander Smith will be touring both the United States and England promoting the record including at festivals, clubs and homey stops in:
05/10 - Living Room concert w/ Illeana Douglas/ Jennifer Tilly - Beverly Hills, CA
06/05 -
Xander Smith @Viper Room (LA Fan Club / Record Release event also w/ Run Run Run -West Hollywood, CA
07/05 -
Xander Smith @ Hard Rock LV (Culinary Dropout Pub), Las Vegas, NV
07/06 -
Xander Smith/Run Run Run support
New Order @ Paramount
Theater, Seattle, WA
07/08 -
Xander Smith/ Run Run Run support
New Order at Queen
Elizabeth Theatre Vancouver, BC CANADA
08/01 -
Xander Smith -The District , Liverpool, UK
08/02 -
Xander Smith - Kendal
Calling Festival (Calling Out Stage) The Lakes, UK
08/08 -
Xander Smith - Stag's Head, London, UK
08/09 -
Xander Smith - Essex Fan Club event
Additional tour dates to be added.
In 2012,
Xander released his debut album, Hey San Pedro, a very different record from what you might have expected from the shoegaze-esque Run Run Run front man. Thanks to his mentor Herb Alpert, he and co-producer/engineer Mike Harrison (Kinky/Bangles) borrowed the famous API console originally housed at A&M studios and began to record eleven tracks. The resulting sound is very much that warm analog sound records had prior to 1972. The influential UK magazine Uncut said the album was full of…"…aching songs of loss & longing, put across with sparing precision." In the U.S. the album has received radio airplay from L.A. tastemakers at KCRW and KCSN, top press reviews (e.g. Variety, the Examiner.com, LA Weekly), and Smith performed at MTV Movie Awards' Gibson stage and Buzzbands.LA showcases.
For Outside, Smith went into several studios with the live players from the many pick up bands he found on the road. The result is 10 new tracks still very much in the singer/songwriter vein -a troubadour with his guitar. Yet this time, drums, electric guitars, piano and melodica turn up to round out the new sound.
Since 2011 when he began sketching out his debut release, Smith has logged some serious miles as a singer/songwriter—both writing and recording songs that are reminiscent of his earliest influences. From the folksy Big Sur sound of the early 1970s mixed with modern indie folk, Outside is a culmination childhood memories and extensive globetrotting. It's the yin of listening to AM radio in the backseat of your mother's car as a pre-teen and the yang of jet lagged international flights with seats in an upright and locked position with headphones on.
In 2013 Smith performed everywhere from suburban living rooms that were featured in the New York Times to hockey arenas in Russia for over 10,000 fans opening for Russia's Mumiy Troll. Now in 2014, with the release of Outside, we can expect more of the same from this songsmith/world traveler.
Tracks listing from Outside:
01 Say Anything
02 Until Always
03 Spiders
04 Seventeen
05 99
06 Washington Square
07 Outside
08 Didsbury Bound
09 Lullaby
10 Leilana
