Indie-rock pioneers Sebadoh have released their first new studio album in more than six years. Act Surprised is out via Dangerbird Records. NPR Music stated, “With Act Surprised, Sebadoh kicks off its fourth decade with rare cohesiveness of vision, in a string of spiky, aggressive three-minute rock songs that don't let their jagged edges obscure the throbbing heart at their center.”

Act Surprised continues the soulful collaboration that's defined the band since 1991's Sebadoh III and 1994's Bakesale. The new batch of songs reaffirms how vital the creative partnership is between members Lou Barlow, Jason Loewenstein, and Bob D'Amico.

When Barlow recently moved back to his home state of Massachusetts following a series of personal changes, he pressed the restart button and, in time, felt the incentive to reach out to Jason and Bob again to reunite and start work on a new album. The trio convened and began recording in their original stomping grounds in western Massachusetts where they first formed back in 1988. Along with producer/sound engineer Justin Pizzoferrato, Sebadoh have delivered one of the best records of their career.

Tour Dates:

09/28: Brighton, UK - Patterns

09/29: London, UK - Scala

10/01: Bristol, UK - Fleece

10/02: Birmingham, UK - O2 Academy 2

10/03: Leeds, UK - Brudenell

10/04: Glasgow, UK - Broadcast

10/05: Manchester, UK - O2 Academy 2 

Jesca Hoop’s brand-new single, ‘Red White and Black’ is taken from her forthcoming album, Stonechild. ‘Red White and Black’ is perhaps the most overtly political track on the album and has an accompanying video directed by old friend and collaborator, Elia Petridis. 

Hoop says “‘Red White and Black’ is a poem, like a snapshot, set in post-civil war USA when slavery was "abolished" and swiftly rebranded by the prison system.  It’s a personal acknowledgement and willingness to join the conversation for change. I write from personal perspective, about relationships mostly and I don’t find much music in politics, but as hate crimes increase, women’s rights are being rolled back, and the two nations I call home are building walls… well, the political has become deeply personal.”

Produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, This Is The Kit), Stonechild was recorded in Hoop’s long time home, Manchester – a first, given previously she’s ventured back to her native California to record.  Parish’s minimal and purist approach helped clarify Hoop in her ideas subtly yet effectively realigning her sound. The simplified arrangements draw focus to the fundamental sophistication of the songs.

The album title was settled after a trip to a Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum, where the Stonechild is a sad, compelling display of an unborn foetus carried by a woman for over 30 years. “They become a hard ball of bones, a rock. Phonetically, it's a beautiful sounding word - hard and soft – but also, I am taken by the idea of carrying something for a long time, perhaps in secret and then giving it up. I hope I have made an album of substance. There is meat on the bone”

While Hoop’s trademark finger-plucked guitar and ethereal textures remain, the songs and their presentation are ever more direct. “He – Parish - was a gentle collaborator until he killed one of my darlings” Hoop jests. “I’ve never been so brutally edited, and I wasn’t shy about expressing my discomfort at the sight of my work on the cutting room floor. He said, you will forgive me, and in some way I think I actually enjoyed that treatment…being stripped back to the bare basics…albeit painfully.  ‘Stonechild’ ventures further into fresh territory with other voices joining the narrative, with Kate Stables (aka This is the Kit) Rozi Plain and Lucius singing the choruses and expanding the sensual depth of the sonic bloom.

Jesca is touring throughout 2019 as follows:

15-18 Aug – Brecon Beacons, Green Man Festival

01 Oct – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club

02 Oct – Bristol, Fiddlers

03 Oct – Manchester, HOME

04 Oct – London, Barbican

05 Oct – Cambridge, Storey's Field Centre

07 Oct – Gateshead, Sage

08 Oct – Liverpool, Leaf

09 Oct – Dublin, Soundhouse

11 Oct – Glasgow, Oran Mor

12 Oct – Edinburgh, Pleasance Theatre

13 Oct – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds