Philadelphia-based musician Mike Polizze will release his second solo album, Around Sound, on July 11th via Paradise of Bachelors. Available to stream today, the sprawling seven-minute title track offers what Polizze calls “the light of life.”
Four years after his acclaimed solo debut, Long Lost Solace Find, the Purling Hiss and Birds of Maya guitarist returns with a more pensive and intricate collection of songs. Around Sound sees Polizze moving further into the bucolic, fingerstyle acoustic territory he explored on his predecessor, crafting what the album’s press release describes as “instantly memorable bucolic odes of languid beauty.”
Polizze, who plays every instrument on the record, once again teamed up with co-producer and engineer Jeff Zeigler (The War on Drugs, Kurt Vile). The result is a sound that is both solitary and expansive. The newly released title track showcases the album’s unhurried nature, unfolding gracefully over seven minutes.
Contrasting it with the album’s other long-form single, Polizze explains, “If ‘Everybody I Know’ is a soul-search about a lonely universe, then ‘Around Sound’ brings back the light of life.”
Despite its often rainy and questioning mood, the album is noted for its playful humour and abundant hooks. It finds the songwriter grappling with new domestic contexts while deepening his signature guitar work, the press referencing: “fellow Delaware County denizens Kurt Vile and Steve Gunn, though only in the sense of shared artistic ancestry”, and “Delco echoes of British fingerstyle forebears like Bert Jansch and Wizz Jones.”
To support the album, Polizze has announced a series of solo shows this spring, with dates alongside artists such as Jake Xerxes Fussell and Roger Miller of Mission of Burma. Around Sound promises a dusky, complex new chapter from a consummate craftsman.
Pre-order the album and stream his new single: https://lnk.to/PoB74
Live Dates
5/10 Philadelphia, PA @ Pageant: Soloveev (as Mike Polizze/Bill Nace Duo) w/ Roger Miller (Mission of Burma) & Jacy Webster
7/12 Rockaway Beach, NY @ Connolly’s w/ Prison (Paul Major)
7/17 Baltimore, MD @ Metro Baltimore w/ Jake Xerxes Fussell
8/17 Philadelphia, NY (record release show) @ Johnny Brenda’s w/ Silver Synthetic & Lo Fives
9/6 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool