Okkervil River make their return with a new song called “In the Light,” their first piece of original music in three years. Frontman Will Sheff wrote the brooding, six-minute epic with guitarist Will Graefe “right before I moved out of Brooklyn,” says Sheff in a press statement. Recorded in one-take at Figure 8 Studios, the track features Frank LoCrasto on piano and Ryan Dugre on second guitar.
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“It sounded great instantly, but it didn’t seem like the right moment to release the track, and the track didn’t seem to be quite at home on ‘In the Rainbow Rain’ [2018]. So I kept it under my hat,” he adds.
Sheff had another new song, titled “It Hasn’t Happened Yet,” dropping this Friday (May 14), in his back pocket, as well. “I’d always wanted to release that one on its own, but I could never get the recording to sit quite right. Finally, I had a tandem eureka moment with both of them,” he explains. “I figured out what I needed to do to fix ‘It Hasn’t Happened Yet,’ and I felt the time was right for ‘In a Light.’ So I brushed them off and sent them to Dave Cerminara to mix. The whole process was incredibly smooth and easy. I think of these songs as two sides of the same coin, supporting each other by saying two different but complementary things. And even though I started them a couple years in the past they both seem to want to talk about the present and future.”
With the single reveals, Sheff also announces plans for a co-headlining tour this fall with Damien Jurado, whose new album The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania release this week. The tour launches late-September with a pair of shows at SPACE in Evanston, Illinois and weaves across country through mid-December. Tickets go on-sale to the general public on Friday.
Check out the tour dates below:
9/21 – Evanston, IL – SPACE
9/22 – Evanston, IL – SPACE
9/23 – Grand Rapids, MI – Wealthy Theatre
9/24 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
9/25 – Louisville, KY – Headliners Music Hall
9/26 – Nelsonville, OH – Stuart’s Opera House
9/28 – Nashville, TN – Third Man Records
9/29 – Atlanta, GA – City Winery
9/30 – Charlotte, NC – Neighborhood Theatre
10/1 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
10/2 – Vienna, VA – Barns at Wolf Trap (tickets on-sale at a later date)
10/3 – Woodstock, NY Levon Helm Studios (with Elvis Perkins)
10/5 – Boston, MA – City Winery
10/6 – Brooklyn, NY – To Be Announced
10/7 – Holyoke, MA – Gateway City Arts
12/1 – Santa Ana, CA – Ebell of Santa Ana
12/2 – Ojai, CA – Ojai Women’s Club
12/3 – Oakland, CA – Starline Social Club
12/4 – Big Sur, CA – Henry Miller Memorial Library (early show)
12/4 – Big Sur, CA – Henry Miller Memorial Library (late show)
12/5 – Sonoma, CA – Sebastiani Theater
12/8 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
12/9 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
12/10 – Tacoma, WA – Fawcett Hall
12/11 – Bellingham, WA – Wild Buffalo
