Vetiver have announced their new album Up On High (Out November 1st on Loose) whose lead single “To Who Knows Where” projects a laidback homegrown warmth, a contrast to the more layered sound of their assured 2015 ‘Complete Strangers’ which harnessed a fluidity of reference points from synthpop to Tropicalia.
Take a listen to “To Who Knows Where” on which Andy Cabic shared:
“How do you explain that you’re leaving again? Not even that you want to, but that you have to? Hearing playback of the basics we recorded live for this…bass, drums, acoustic guitar, scratch vocal…proved that this fundamental approach was the core of what would work for these songs, this album. I heard it here first.”
The album features the same band that helped make Complete Strangers along with engineer and collaborator Thom Monahan. The accompanying press release suggests Up On High is still as diverse an offering but with “a distinct move to more elemental, spacious and natural arrangements”. That’s certainly apparent on “To Who Knows Where”, which has a warm intimacy that was no doubt purposefully encouraged by the decision to use a simple set-up to capture the “organic immediacy of a roomful of friends playing together on the floor”.
The basic tracking of the album took place over a few Spring days at a friend’s house in the high desert of California and the album was finished at Monahan’s studio in Los Angeles over the summer as other friends popped by to lend their talents.
Album Teaser:
Vetiver are touring the UK and Ireland in December.
VETIVER UK / IRELAND TOUR DATES
07 Dec – LIVERPOOL 81 Renshaw
08 Dec – MANCHESTER Yes
09 Dec – DURHAM Old Cinema Launderette
10 Dec – EDINBURGH Sneaky Pete’s
11 Dec – GLASGOW Mono
13 Dec – LEEDS Headrow House
14 Dec – BIRMINGHAM The Cuban Embassy
15 Dec – BRIGHTON The Brunswick
16 Dec – BRISTOL Rough Trade
17 Dec – LONDON Islington Academy 2
Vetiver’s Up On High is out 1st November 2019 on Loose on LP, CD & digital.
Photo Credit: Alyssa Anderson