Cole Berliner has signed to Drag City for the release of his debut solo album, The Black Door, due May 29th. The title track is out now, accompanied by a music video from Fred Joseph.
Best known for his work with Kamikaze Palm Tree and Sharpie Smile, Berliner’s solo turns heads somewhere altogether different — an album-length sequence of rich-grained instrumental parlor music that blends country, blues, ambient and folk into what might be called one great ambient prairie. The songs began life as solo acoustic guitar pieces, but quickly demanded the dynamics of a full acoustic ensemble. Berliner plays guitar and lap steel alongside a cast that includes violinist Laena Myers, acoustic bassist Garret Lang, and drummer Dylan Hadley, with further contributions from Sofia Arreguin, Robert Earl Thomas, Michael Sachs, Sarah Safaie, Kilan Thorns and Cesar Hernandez. Arrangements stretch across acoustic, electric and lap steel guitars, piano, bass, drums, percussion, violin, viola, horns, woodwinds and synthesizers, with Berliner co-producing and mixing alongside Cesar Maria.
Of the title track, Berliner describes it as “an ode to the sweetness and darkness of memory, both in one’s immediate life and in the context of history. The inspiration was drawn from the mystical sounds of American (and proto-American!) folk music and swing, filtered through the lens of heart-string pullers like Bert Jansch and Jim O’Rourke, and carved into something both personal and simultaneously universal.”
Berliner heads out on a North American tour in quartet form this June to support the release, with an album release party at Los Angeles’ Zebulon on June 3rd.
Pre-Order/Save: https://lnk.to/theblackdoor
Cole Berliner US Tour Dates 2026
June 3rd – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon (Album Release Party)
June 4th – San Francisco, CA @ Makeout Room
June 6th – Arcata, CA @ Moss Oak Commons
June 7th – Portland, OR @ Turn, Turn, Turn
June 8th – Olympia, WA @ The Crypt
June 13th – Joshua Tree, CA @ Firehouse