Zoh Amba will release their Matador debut album, Eyes Full, on June 5th. A first preview arrives today with the single and video Another Time.
Already one of the most exciting saxophonists to emerge from New York’s avant-garde scene, Amba is now letting their heart guide them back to their first instrument, the guitar, and to their hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee. The music is instinctively tied to that place: muddy, loose blues with sweet burnishes of Appalachian folk. KLOF readers may recognise Amba from their spirited vocal duet with Jim White on I Don’t Do / Grand Central, a highlight from White’s solo album Inner Day. The connection runs deep: White plays drums on Eyes Full, a musician Amba calls the closest thing they’ve had to a family.
On Eyes Full, every song circles the idea of seeing and being seen. The album looks closely at the lives of working-class people in small towns, and its cast of characters — from a kid benumbed by medication to a man who plays hide-and-seek with God — are drawn with an aching, unsentimental tenderness. “I hope these songs touch people’s hearts,” Amba says. “They’re about people who really need to be seen and heard.”
The album was tracked live at Drop of Sun Studios in Asheville, an hour from Amba’s hometown, with no overdubs. Best friend Kevin Hyland plays electric guitar, weaving around Amba’s rhythm playing while White and Amba lock together as a rhythmic unit. The result sounds moonshine-drunk, Amba’s voice snarling and fiery, their guitar slowing then gathering speed. Standout Southern Soil confronts the silence that shaped much of Amba’s young life, its lyric “you don’t have to keep a secret” representing what they consider one of the greatest achievements of their life.
Pre-Order ‘Eyes Full’: https://zohamba.mat-r.co/eyesfull
Amba will perform at New York’s Nightclub 101 on April 17 and tour the US this summer supporting Courtney Barnett and Folk Bitch Trio (dates below).
ZOH AMBA LIVE DATES
Apr. 17 – New York City, NY @ Nightclub 101 w/ Superfan
May 7 – Asheville, NC @ Revival %
May 8 – Atlanta, GA @ Vinyl %
May 9 – Nashville, TN @ Blue Room %
May 11 – Houston, TX @ White Oak %
May 12 – Austin, TX @ 29th Street Ballroom %
May 13 – Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Arts %
Aug. 11 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theater #
Aug. 12 – Pittsburg, PA @ Roxian Theatre #
Aug. 14 – Cincinnati, OH @ Megacorp Pavillion #
Aug. 15 – Kansas City, MO @ The Truman #
Aug. 21 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom #
Aug. 22 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Rockwell at the Complex #
Aug. 24 – Sacramento, CA @ Channel 24 #
Aug. 26 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore #
Aug. 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium #