The Barr Brothers today unveiled the bruising lead single from their forthcoming album ‘Queens of the Breakers,’ out October 13 on Secret City Records. The song is called “It Came to Me” – listen/post/share it here: https://youtu.be/HDjMrR756Gs
The driving, ecstatic “It Came to Me” begins with a squall of guitar and a rush of drums, quickly formed into a mean, bluesy riff textured with classical acoustic harp. Brad Barr’s voice distorts to a rasp, telling the tale of a Zen-like quest for answers to the questions of the universe.
"Since we were kids, Brad and I would sit down at our instruments and, without speaking, launch into playing loud rock and roll at high volume. It was probably in part to drown out the confusing noise of youth and being told what to do all the time, and in part it was a way of communicating with each other in a language that was probably more expressive and fun than our normal middle school banter - it also prevented a lot of fighting over the remote control. All to say, when we went to St. Zenon (in Quebec, to demo songs for the new album) late one night, we sat down together and started playing this one. It came easily and cheerfully, and when Brad started singing "It Came to Me", I laughed at this almost "snake chasing its tale moment", a song lyric aware of itself - and so this one came like that, when we sat down with no agenda and tapped into one of our oldest sorts of dialogue." - Andrew Barr
The band previously released “You Would Have to Lose Your Mind” along with the album announcement. It was deemed “gorgeous” by Brooklyn Vegan and “swirling, evolving…at once delicate and expansive…seems to cling to a sense of humanity, even in its ethereal wanderings” by Paste. Listen here: http://www.2lin.cc/YWHTLYM
The Barr Brothers also recently announced their fall 2017 headlining international tour, full dates below.
The new album arrives after the longest-ever pause in Brad and Andrew Barr’s 20-year career in music. Both became fathers since 2014’s ‘Sleeping Operator’ was released. In that time, Sarah Page also found ways to completely redefine the harp, its sound, and its role in modern music. ‘Queens of the Breakers’ was born out of reflection of what home and family mean now, after the effects of life on the road.
The Barr Brothers released their debut album, recorded in a boiler room in Montreal, in 2011. Since then they’ve performed on The Late Show twice, several NPR programs, CBC ‘q’, CBS This Morning Saturday, Canada AM, France Inter “Le Nouveau Rendez-Vous”, KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic and more. They’ve shared stages with The National, The War On Drugs, Patrick Watson, My Morning Jacket, Emmylou Harris and countless others. They headlined the Montreal Jazz Festival in front of 40,000 people and have sold out venues across the world. 2014’s ‘Sleeping Operator’ was a breakthrough record, with spins on over 50 Triple A radio stations in the US. It was playlisted with all 3 singles and the band did 6 sessions across every BBC Radio stations in the UK. ‘Sleeping Operator’ is now over 60 million combined streams.
‘Queens of the Breakers’ was engineered by Ryan Freeland (Milk Carton Kids, Ray LaMontagne, Bonnie Raitt) and Marcus Paquin (Arcade Fire, The National). It was recorded in Montreal and St. Zenon, Quebec.
Pre-order and pre-save the album here: http://www.2lin.cc/QOTB
Watch the album teaser here: https://youtu.be/P65lL5BtDSk
‘Queens of The Breakers’ track list
Tour Dates:
September 22 – Utopia TX @ UtopiaFest
November 3 – Weissenhaeuser Strand DE @ Rolling Stone Festival
November 4 – Groningen NL @ Take Root Festival
November 6 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
November 8 – Zurich, CH @ Bogen F
November 9 – Paris, FR @ Le Pop Up du Label
November 10 – Cologne, DE @ Studio 672
November 12 – Berlin, DE @ Privatclub
November 14 – London, UK @ Union Chapel
November 15 – Winchester, UK @ The Railway
November 16 – Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute
November 20 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
November 23 – Quebec, QC @ Imperial
November 24 – Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
November 28 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
November 29 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
December 1 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
December 2 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
December 3 – Washington, DC @ Sixth and I Historic Synagogue
December 5 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theater
December 6 – Pontiac, MI @ The Pike Room
December 7 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
December 8 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
December 12 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
December 13 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
December 15 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
December 16 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
December 17 – Vancouver, BC @ Imperial
Official: http://thebarrbrothers.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebarrbrothers
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebarrbrothers
Instagram: @thebarrbrothers
Secret City Records Online:
For more information please contact Matt Hanks (mhanks@shorefire.com), Chris Taillie (ctaillie@shorefire.com) or Spencer Roth-Rose (srothrose@shorefire.com) at Shore Fire Media, (718) 522-7171