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Los Angeles’ Local Natives will release their sophomore album, entitled Hummingbird, on Frenchkiss Records/Infectious Music on January 29th, 2013 (out in Europe January 28th). The band will also be embarking on a UK and European tour previewing new songs from the album, with a US tour to follow. Tour dates are below.
Much has happened between the band’s critically-acclaimed, Best New Music debut album, Gorilla Manor, and the imminent release of Hummingbird. From rave reviews to brilliant television performances, Gorilla Manor launched the band onto the global stage, saw them headlining theaters throughout America and Europe, opening for bands like Arcade Fire and The National, winning them lauded slots at major festivals around the world, and selling over 100,000 albums in the U.S. alone. Upon their return home from the road, the band built out a rehearsal space/studio in an abandoned bungalow in Silverlake, allowing them to try writing in different ways, and freeing them up to work extensively on tones and arrangements. This ultimately led to their experimenting with new instruments and sounds, bringing a broader musical palette to the table, and challenging them to grow from the comfort space of their established aesthetic.
The band says Hummingbird was created from the emotional framework of being stretched between two opposite poles. In the two years following Gorilla Manor’s release, the band saw the highest highs and the lowest lows they had ever experienced together. While their wildest musical dreams were coming to fruition, personal relationships faltered or fell apart, and a close family member suddenly passed away. As such, the songs on Hummingbird embody that similar dichotomy – they are fragile and powerful, opulent and spare, tense and poised. When it came time to properly set these songs to tape, the band did their initial tracking in Montreal, and then decamped to Brooklyn, enlisting as co-producer The National’s Aaron Dessner, who they had recently befriended while touring together. It was the first time they had ever recorded outside their native California, and relocating became the physical manifestation of working beyond what was familiar for them. Indeed, Hummingbird is all the better for it.
Shining opener “You & I” is the album’s calling card, bathing synthetic drums in warm organs and surfy guitars, and the band’s signature sky-high harmonies. “Heavy Feet” marries hand claps and sparse chords with a driving snare and one of the most remarkable choruses on the album, while “Ceilings” sounds like Fleetwood Mac with a dub bass groove. “Colombia,” written for a member’s mother who passed away unexpectedly last year, is the album’s swollen heart moment, a love letter from a son to a parent which grows in beautiful, orchestral complexity around a simple, plaintive chorus. Like all of Hummingbird, the song carries with it not just a melodic richness, but a quality of grace – a moment to be examined and ultimately enjoyed.
Local Natives tour dates are:
11/4/2012 Zepp, Tokyo
11/28/2012 Hamburg, Germany @ Molotov
11/29/2012 Berlin, Germany @ Comet
12/1/2012 Paris, France @ Point Ephemere
12/4/2012 Amsterdam, Holland @ Bitterzoet
12/5/2012 Brussels, Belgium @ Rotunde
12/6/2012 London, UK @ Hoxton Bar & Kitchen
12/8/2012 Camber Sands Pontins, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
1/29/2013 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
1/30/2013 Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre
2/1/2013 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
2/2-3/2013 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
3/18/2013 Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
3/19/2013 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
3/22/2013 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Ballroom
3/23/2013 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
3/25/2013 Covington, KY @ Madison Theatre
3/26/2013 Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
3/30/2013 Boston, MA @ House of Blues
4/1/2013 Providence, RI @ Fete
4/4/2013 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
4/5/2013 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
4/25/2013 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
4/26/2013 Seattle, WA @ Neptune
4/27/2013 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Theatre
Track listing:
1) You & I
2) Heavy Feet
3) Ceilings
4) Black Spot
5) Breakers
6) Three Months
7) Black Balloons
8) Wooly Mammoth
9) Mt. Washington
10) Colombia
11) Bowery
