Leif Vollebekk’s New Ways Is Out Today On Secret City Records

Leif Vollebekk’s New Ways is out today via Secret City Records - it is the sound of desire in its unfolding. A sonic documentation of everything that Leif felt; tenderness and violence, sex and rebirth. "Anything that I wouldn't ever want to tell anyone - I just put it on the record," he says. 

Uncut has given it a rave 8/10 review, stating: "Leif Vollebekk's synesthesia is working overtime...the unhurried observational vividness of extended takes in a Linklater film. A self-described ‘recovering Dylanphile,’ Vollebekk relapses on the knotty ‘Blood Brother’ and the panoramic ‘Apalachee Plain,’ the bittersweet lilt of his voice all tangled up in blue.” Rolling Stone France called it “his most elegant album yet,”Independent UK has rated it 4 out of 5 stars and Exclaim! a 9/10.  

Leif will embark on his biggest tour ever, including the Bowery Ballroom in NYC on December 10 and the Troubadour in LA on January 14.  

Leif also shared this week a live version of “Transatlantic Flight”, filmed at the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto with a 10-piece string section. Vollebekk performed on the famous Glenn Gould Yamaha piano. 

"I kept picturing playing this {transatlantic flight} live and being surrounded by string instruments. Cellos, violins, violas, double basses... and a grand piano being like a mast in the middle of this big wooden ship of musicians. I asked my manager if she thought something like that could ever happen. The next day she told me Massey Hall would love to do exactly that. And further, I would get to play their Glenn Gould piano. For all this - and more - I am eternally grateful to them.” - Leif Vollebekk

Watch the live video for “Transatlantic Flight” here: LINK. The recording is courtesy of The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall and part of the Roy Thomson Hall’s VARIATIONS Series.

Released in June, the first single "Hot Tears" was featured on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic Top 10 for a number of weeks and was recently featured as a KCRW Today's Top Tune. The song quickly reached well over two million streams. Leif performed a Free At Noon concert at WXPN last week (listen here) and was in the CBC ‘q’ studio yesterday (listen here) The NY Times recently said that Leif’s songs are "pensive and restless, blossoming with stream-of-consciousness verses that bear the marks of long nights spent alone on the road." 

New Ways was recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles and Studio Breakglass in Montreal, it features Olivier Fairfield (Timber Timbre) and Homer Steinweiss (The Dap-Kings, Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson) on drums, and additional vocals by Angie McMahon. It was mixed by Chris Allen in NYC (Yoko Ono, Fleet Foxes, Sigur Rós, Margaret Glaspy) and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound (David Byrne, The War On Drugs, Gregory Alan Isakov, Tame Impala, Father John Misty, Bob Dylan, Patrick Watson). 

Twin Solitude was a breakthrough album for Leif, landing a spot on the Polaris Music Prize 2017 shortlist, a Juno nomination and is now at over 23 million streams. It was critically acclaimed by Uncut, NPR Music, The Fader, The Sunday Times Culture, The Line of Best Fit, Paste, Brooklyn Vegan, WXPN, KCRW and Exclaim! to only name a few. During his career Leif has shared stages with Shakey Graves, Gregory Alan Isakov, Angie McMahon, Daniel Lanois, Patrick Watson, Natalia Lafourcade, Mandolin Orange, Beth Orton, Sinéad O’Connor and countless others. He sold-out much of his latest North-American headlining tour during the Twin Solitude campaign.

Pre-order and Pre-Save the album to your music library here.

Watch the Hot Tears video here.

Watch the official video for Transatlantic Flight here.

Tour Dates

11/06 – Bristol, UK @ SWX *

11/07 – London, UK @ Electric Brixton *

11/08 – Glasgow, UK @ The Garage *

11/09 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz *    

11/11 - De Kapel, Netherlands @ Muziekgebouw          

11/12 – Groningen, Netherlands @ Lutherse Kerk

11/13 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso *

11/14 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso *

11/16 – Cologne, DE @ Live Music Hall *

11/17 – Hamburg, DE @ Markthalle *

11/19 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg *

11/21 – Munich, DE @ Technikum *

11/22 – Vienna, AU @ Arena *

11/23 – Zurich, CH @ X-Tra *

11/24 – Stans, Switzerland @ Chäslager 

11/26 – Paris, FR @ Le Trianon *

11/27 – Brussels, BE @ AB *

11/29 – Montreal, QC @ Le National SOLD-OUT

12/1 - Toronto, ON @ Mod Club

12/2 – Toronto, ON @ Mod Club SOLD-OUT

12/3 – Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark

12/4 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Listening Room

12/6 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall

12/7 – Indianapolis, IN @ LoFi

12/8 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups

12/10 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom

12/11 – Boston, MA @ Great Scott

12/13 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live Upstairs

12/14 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd

1/14 - West Hollywood, CA @ Troubadour

1/17 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Catalyst Atrium

1/19 – Sacramento, CA @ Harlows

1/20 - San Francisco, CA @ Swedish American Hall

1/22 – Eugene, OR @ Wildcraft Cider Works

1/23 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir

1/24 – Seattle, WA @ Columbia City Theatre

1/25 – Vancouver, BC @ Imperial 

3/13-22 - Austin, TX @ SXSW

4/25 - Paris, FR @ Le Pop-Up du Label

4/28 - London, UK @ Bush Hall 

* Supporting Half Moon Run

Leif Vollebekk Online

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Secret City Records Online

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