Kevin Morby announces new LP with lead cut "Campfire"

After teasing his return on socials yesterday (31 August), Kevin Morby is back with details of his new LP Sundowner.

Morby has announced his new album with the lead single "Campfire", which arrives with a visual directed by Johnny Eastlund and Dylan Isbell, and stars Morby's partner Katie Crutchfield, aka Waxahatchee.

Sundowners will be Morby's first album since last year's Oh My God LP. The new album received its title after Morby and Crutchfield started to refer to themselves as 'sundownders' after they discovered they had a mutual feeling of melancholy at sunset.

Discussing the writing process, Morby says, "I wrote the entire album wearing headphones, hunched over the 424, letting my voice and guitar pass through the machine, getting lost in the warmth of the tape as if another version of myself was living on the inside, singing back at me. I was mesmerised by the magic of the four track not only as a recording device, but also an instrument, and considered it my songwriting partner throughout the whole process."

Morby started recording the LP with producer Brad Cook at Texas' Sonic Ranch in January 2019. He played the majority of instruments across the record apart from Cook's bass and keys, and the percussion which was by Big Thief's James Krivchenia. Morby didn't revisit the album until March 2020 when the world went into lockdown. Cook, Jerry Ordonez (from Sonic Ranch) and Morby worked from their own homes to finish the album.

The musician says of the album, "It is a depiction of isolation. Of the past. Of an uncertain future. Of provisions. Of an omen. Of a dead deer. Of an icon. Of a Los Angeles themed hotel in rural Kansas. Of billowing campfires, a mermaid and a highway lined in rabbit fur. It is a depiction of the nervous feeling that comes with the sky's proud announcement that another day will be soon coming to a close as the pink light recedes and the street lamps and house lights suddenly click on."

Tracklist:

1. Valley
2. Brother, Sister
3. Sundowner
4. Campfire
5. Wander
6. Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun
7. A Night At The Little Los Angeles
8. Jamie
9. Velvet Highway
10. Provisions