You need a Monday pick-me-up?
Of course you do.
Ice cream? Beer?
All good.
But along with that, how ’bout some new music via local genius Matthew Swann (a.k.a. Astral Swans)?
The bedsit psych folkster is getting set to release his sophomore album Strange Prison on May 18th via hometown label Saved By Radio, which is run by the ridiculously wonderful local scene booster Dawn Loucks. It will also see the light of day in Tokyo thanks to Moorworks and in the Netherlands at the hands of Tiny Room Records.
The new album was co-produced by Scott Munro from Calgary monsters Preoccupations, along with Dan Mangan, who released Swann’s brilliant debut, 2015’s All My Favourite Singers Are Willie Nelson, on his Madic Records label, and Paul Chirka, the recording engineer for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.
Strange Prison also features a star-studded roster of guests, including Dan Gaucher from Destroyer, Dillon Whitfield of Reuben and The Dark fame, Rena Kozak (a.k.a. Child Actress), and electro artist Tigerwing.
“These songs are character studies in the complexity of being human,” Swann says of his new album. “Flaws and vulnerabilities are just one part of us. Our experiences are filtered through the conditions of our personhood; locked into our perceptions, our scenarios, and our knowledge structures, with perhaps only our potential for empathy and imagination as possible windows into each other’s minds.”
Whoa.
For further whoa and all of the feels, check out the gorgeous first single What Are You Gonna Do with Yourself and its accompanying trippy (cat!) video, which was directed by Mitch Nybo.
Genius.
Enjoy.
Oh, and if, like us, you can’t wait for the album release, you can pre-order it here.
(Photo courtesy Ben Painter.)
