Prolific guitarist and experimental innovator Steve Gunn is set to release his seventh studio album, Daylight Daylight, on November 7th via No Quarter. The announcement comes hot on the heels of his recently released instrumental album, Music for Writers (Three Lobed), which KLOF Mag’s Glenn Kimpton praised for its “immersive” and “versatile” sound. To mark the announcement, Gunn has shared the album’s ethereal lead single, “Nearly There“, which underlines a commitment to a sparse, intimate sound.
While his recent Music for Writers was recorded in non-traditional studio spaces in Brooklyn, Berlin, and Latvia, Daylight Daylight is described as Gunn’s first proper studio album in four years; it is also his first for the No Quarter label. It breaks from his recent approach of assembling a full band, instead enlisting a single primary collaborator, in this instance, James Elkington, who also produced Gunn’s 2019 album The Unseen In Between. Elkington was tasked with creating arrangements of strings and woodwinds, inspired by their shared love for artists they’d talked about over the years, including Mark Hollis, Ennio Morricone, The Fall, and Basil Kirchin. The creative process involved Gunn sending Elkington solo demos and giving him free rein to develop the arrangements. Working out of Elkington’s Chicago studio, they added subtle layers—a whisper of a synthesizer, a muted percussion line—while maintaining the sparse and intimate sound mentioned above.
The album also features contributions from Macie Stewart (violins and viola), Ben Whiteley (cellos), Nick Macri (upright bass) and Hunter Diamond (woodwinds). This new record promises to showcase further Gunn’s evolving artistry and unique collaborative vision.
Tour Dates
Gunn has a busy tour schedule ahead, including UK dates this October with James Elkington:
Sept 11 – Chicago, IL @ Sound & Gravity Festival
Sept 25 – Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s
Oct 23 – London, UK @ St. Mathias *
Oct 24 – Glasgow, UK @ Hug and Pint *
Oct 25 – York, UK @ The Band Room *
Oct 26 – Shropshire, UK @ Firefly *
Oct 28 – Stockholm, Sweden @ stadsgardsterminalen
Oct 29 – Göteborg, Sweden @ Pustervik
Oct 30 – Oslo, Norway @ Bla
Oct 31 – Kristiansand, Norway @ Dirty Old Town
Nov 1 – Stavanger, Norway @ Folken
Nov 2 – Bergen, Norway @ Kunsthall
Nov 9 – Sétubal, Portugal @ Forum Luisa Todi
Nov 14 – Dranouter, Belgium @ Dranouter
Nov 15 – Turnhout, Belgium De Warande
Dec 3 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
Dec 4 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro
Dec 5 – Raleigh, NC @ King’s
Dec 6 – Washington, DC @ DC9
Dec 10 – Portsmouth, NH @ The Press Room
Dec 11 – Portland, ME @ Space
Dec 17 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
Jan 1 – Sawyer, MI @ Out There
Jan 14 – Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
Jan 15 – Vancouver, BC @ The Fox Cabaret
Jan 17 – Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
Jan 20 – San Francisco, CA @ Café Du Nord
Jan 21 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Crepe Place
Jan 22 – Ojai, CA @ Deer Lodge
Jan 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Lodge Room
Jan 25 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy’s & Harriet’s
*w/ James Elkington
