Langhorne Slim shares three tracks off upcoming LP “Lost At Last Vol. 1” – out November 10
LANGHORNE SLIM TO RELEASE FUNNY FEELIN’ EP!
“BETTER MAN “
TRACKS FROM FORTHCOMING LP, LOST AT LAST VOL. 1 TO BE RELEASED NOVEMBER 10 VIA DUALTONE
Langhorne Slim is pleased to share three new tracks off his upcoming album Lost at Last Vol. 1. “Funny Feelin’ (for junior kimbrough and ted hawkins)” premiered via Relix and Langhorne told the magazine, “I was in Catskill, NY working on new songs for Lost at Last Vol. 1 and decided one night to take the long drive from Catskill back to where I’m from in Pennsylvania to visit family. I listened to this incredible version of Junior Kimbrough’s “Meet Me in the City” and a ton of Ted Hawkins the whole way there. When I got to my mom’s place in the middle of the nigh
t, I started playin this one. It’s an ode to both Junior and Ted. Two true masters. I hope I did ’em justice
.” As with the earlier singles he’s shared off the album, Langhorne is also revealing two additional tracks via the Funny Feelin’ EP.
LISTEN to “Funny Feelin’ (for junior kimbrough and ted hawkins)”
Today’s singles are the follow up to the Life Is Confusing EP released in September and before that, the EP Never Break. As with Funny Feelin’, the tracks are all taken from Lost at Last Vol. 1 which is being released on Dualtone November 10.
“the song gently weaves together swirling strings beneath Slim’s vocals, which add comforting compassion to what, in lesser hands, could sound like a flippant statement: ‘Life is confusing and people are insane.'”American Songwriter on “Life Is Confusing“
“Langhorne Slim is back with his incomparable folk music” Popmatters on “House Of My Soul (You Light The Rooms)”
“a bittersweet tune for all of the autumn-deniers.” Baeble on “Ocean City (For May, Jack & Brother Jon)“
“We love Zombie” KCRW on “Zombie“
The reaction from Triple A radio has been favorable with continued support from key stations including KCRW/Los Angeles, KEXP/Seattle, WXPN/Philadelphia, Sirius XM The Loft, KCMP/Minneapolis, KJAC/Denver, WRLT/Nashville, KTBG/Kansas City and many more.
TOUR DATES:
Nov 3 – Boudin, Bourbon & Beer Festival – New Orleans, LA
Jan 31 – Feb 4 – Avetts At The Beach – Cancun, MX
Fans can pre-order Lost at Last Vol. 1 here.
Langhorne Slim is no stranger to the road – Rolling Stone has noted he has “made a name for himself with insightful songwriting and off-the-rails live shows” – so it’s no surprise that he has toured throughout 2017 and the dates continue into next year (and beyond).
The upcoming Lost at Last Vol. 1 is the follow up to 2015’s The Spirit Moves (Dualtone) which The Guardianpraised for its “forehead vein bulging, raw and raucous delivery.” Lost at Last Vol. 1 was produced by Kenny Siegal, Malachi DeLorenzo, and Langhorne Slim, and was recorded at Panoramic House Studio in Marin County, CA.
Langhorne Slim has enjoyed a long successful career dating back to his debut EP, Electric Love Letter. NPRhas labeled him a “supercharged folksinger” while he has likened his music to “country punk.” He hails from New Hope, PA and when not on the road he currently resides in Nashville, TN. Langhorne has appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman and Conan and has played numerous festivals including Newport Folk Fest, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. Lost at Last Vol. 1 marks his sixth studio album.
TRACK LISTING:
- Life is Confusing
- Old Things
- House of My Soul (you light the rooms)
- Ocean City (for may, jack and brother jon)
- Private Property
- Money Road Shuffle
- Never Break
- Bluebird
- Alligator Girl
- Funny Feelin’ (for junior kimbrough and ted hawkins)
- Zombie
- Lost This Time
- Better Man
MORE ABOUT
LOST AT LAST VOL.1:
As the phenomena of instant connection and the need for constant self-improvement further implant their tendrils into our culture, the ability to truly connect with each other and ourselves has begun to fade. As we all reach for our smartphones to gaze upon the manufactured perfection of the lives of those we admire, we lose sight of what makes our own lives important. Nashville’s Langhorne Slim interlaces this theme throughout his new album. “Everyone’s searchin’ for something better around every corner, but it’s already right here,” Langhorne says. “We’re all born whole – through livin’ we fall apart…”
The songs on Langhorne Slim’s newest album, Lost at Last Vol. 1, out November 10, 2017, challenge the idea of social rigidity: the attitude that there’s a “correct” way for us to live and a side we should be on. He urges the world to see through the idea that by following that path and focusing only on fitting the mold, one will have lived a good life. He re-interprets the sound of the free-spirited yet vulnerable everyman heard on 2015’s The Spirit Moves and brings forth anew the call for us to abandon “the fold” and re-connect with ourselves and each other.
Langhorne Slim is no stranger to the world of popular culture and commercial success. Lost At Last Vol. 1 is his sixth full-length album; throughout his career he has been defined by reflective songwriting and passionate delivery.Slim’s last album cycle alone garnered him his third appearance on Conan O’Brien’s late-night show, as well as a feature on CBS Saturday Morning, and the highest charting debut of his career. O’Brien, a personal fan of Slim stated, “After one listen, I became an instant, almost obsessive fan.” Slim has consistently toured on his own, and has appeared on extensive worldwide runs throughout his career with artists such as The Lumineers, The Avett Brothers, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, Gregory Alan Isakov, Josh Ritter, The Devil Makes Three, Sara Watkins, and more. He’s also appeared on many festival stages, such as Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Festival, Outside Lands, Lollapalooza, and the Philadelphia Folk Festival.
Lost at Last Vol. 1 is a record that Langhorne wanted to do differently from the start. “Almost immediately after recording our last record, The Spirit Moves,” Slim says, “I felt a deep desire to make another album. One that would take a step sideways in order to take a step forward; one that would be very personal and raw…in the making of this record, I made a deal with myself to trust my own voice and vision more than I ever have before, and to go willingly wherever it led.”
The title alone reflects his need to pen a great wealth of songs, as if the thoughts and inspiration took on a life of their own and just needed to come out. Recorded over the span of around six months in New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Catskill, NY, and clocking in at about 34 minutes, it’s a short but intense listening experience. Several songs are under two or three minutes long, but they pack vivid imagery into concise packages in a way that shows a significant diversion from the songwriting on his previous records. Slim keeps his record-making in the family with this release; longtime band member Malachi DeLorenzo co-produced the record along with Kenny Siegal, and DeLorenzo also mixed several tracks in addition to playing drums on the record.
Slim reflects truths that we may or may not want to admit; in “Life is Confusing”, he muses that “life is confusing, and people are insane”. He stands resolute in the face of trial: “…you could break my heart, but you’ll never break me,” he sings on “Never Break”. He calls upon the listener during this time fraught with challenges to unplug from the trajectory our culture has deemed is “right” and find strength in our own vulnerability, in our own instincts. “We look to our phones, drugs, sex whatever to find ourselves when it’s already right here,” Slim says. These songs join in the rallying call for the wild ones in us all.
An Artist Manifesto:
In regard to Lost at Last Vol. 1 (why is stuff the way stuff is):
It’s always appeared clear to me, and perhaps many of you, that we’re trained from birth to see things in a particular light – to view certain ways of being as successes or failures. It broke my heart as a kid because I didn’t fit that mold and felt trapped, and it continues to confound and enrage me now as a man, because it’s so clearly narrow-minded and hopelessly limiting. Attaching one’s identity to the artificial and superficial as opposed to living in amazement, wonder and following our soul’s actual calling is a great human tragedy as I see it. We shield our hearts and ignore our true inner voices to “fit in” and “follow the fold”, a path some old men came up with at some point that we follow to our graves. It makes us act instead of feel, which inevitably turns us cold and hard. In doing so, we lose our animal instinct, our natural ability to exist in a far more spiritual realm. There’s so much more than meets the eye! We look to our phones, drugs, sex, whatever to find ourselves when it’s already right here.
The music on this record is an attempt to rebel against that form of living. To reconnect with ourselves and with each other. It ain’t hippie shit in my mind, it’s ancient shit. The soul or spirit’s apocalypse to me is the loss of natural instinct, compassion and love for ourselves, each other and the universe as a whole. To feel like we need a team or side to relate to in order to know ourselves. We diminish the wild from within and as a result, lose our connection to what’s real and wild around us. We put armor around our own divine independence. We smooth out our freak or “eccentric” tendencies to fit a mold that’s been sold to us. Go to school, get a “real” job, get married, have some kids and end it all off on a golf course in Boca if you’re lucky. Fuck that! In my own way, I pray for a soul or spiritual revolution where we disconnect from the horrible manufactured noise around us, and we re-learn to connect and love ourselves, each other and the universe as a whole: to look within. Everyone’s searchin’ for something better around every corner, but it’s already right here. We’re all born whole, through livin’ we fall apart.
Almost immediately after recording our last record, The Spirit Moves, I felt a deep desire to make another album. One that would take a step sideways in order to take a step forward; one that would be very personal and raw. I had a handful of songs that didn’t fit on previous records and I didn’t wanna lose ’em. Not only that, but I wanted to write more songs like ’em. Folk kinda songs, sang and played as simply as I could muster. Nothing that couldn’t be effective with just me and a guitar. My initial instinct was to set up a tape machine in my living room, invite some friends over to accompany me, and press record. I longed for simplicity and rawness – I still do. I got to writing. A few months later, I was at Newport Folk Festival. There I saw Patti Smith deliver one of the most punk rock performances I’ve ever witnessed – full of beauty, spit and LIFE! I withdrew to my rental car to reflect and shed a tear. At that moment, my old pal Dan drove by. He stopped his car and came to sit on the trunk of mine with me. I didn’t ask, but he began to tell me about a recording studio in Stinson Beach, California where one can view the ocean while recording – I liked the sound of that very much. A few months later, I booked that studio and called some friends to see if they’d join me.
In the making of this record, I made a deal with myself to trust my own voice and vision more than I ever have before, and to go willingly wherever it led. Most of my records have been road tested songs alongside my band of beautiful brothers, The Law (or previously The War Eagles). For Lost at Last, I craved a looser approach where the musicians would learn the tunes more “on the spot” and play along with me live and spontaneously in a room all together as they were being recorded. I had an A-team in mind and called Casey Wayne McAllister (keys in The Law and ex-Hurray For The Riff Raff) to play organ, piano and anything else hewanted, Mt Davidson (Twain) one of my favorite musicians and songwriters of all time to play pedal steel, piano, guitar and also anything else he wanted, Paul Defiglia (original bass player in my band, The War Eagles / keys in The Avett Brothers) to play upright bass, Malachi DeLorenzo (drummer in my band since the beginning, and a beautiful producer who hasn’t gotten to produce as much as he’d like, as he’s been living in a van with me for the last 15 years) to co-produce and play percussion, and Kenny Siegel (co-producer of The Way We Move, The Spirit Moves and my often song writing collaborator). We holed up in a friend’s house in San Francisco to rehearse about twenty-five songs for five days and headed up to Stinson Beach to play ’em live in a room all together and press record.
The title Lost at Last is a hopeful, even joyful one. The only rule is to keep movin’. Perhaps if one feels found, they have nothing left to find. I’d prefer to stay a bit lost and continue searching. The tragedy, I find, is that we close & shield our hearts because life is hard. The journey, I think is not only to remain open but to continually break through in order to become more vulnerable and sensitive, and in that, strong and mighty! I wanna shake off the conditioning: to live from the heart and not be ruled by a system of existing that keeps us fat and tired. It’s in the little prince, it’s in children, and in every great rock ‘n roll band, soul singer, hip hop artist, etc. that really gets it. Never close, never break and never fall for the great scam. Love is the key. Love over gold. Love thyself and love each other. Getting lost is the cost of being free.
Miles Davis said, “Man, sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself”
Rumi said, “You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens”.
Bob Dylan said, “An artist has to be careful never really to arrive at a place where he thinks he’s at somewhere. You always have to realize you’re in a constant state of becoming”.
Cat Stevens (one of my main influences for this record, especially the soundtrack to Harold and Maude) said, “I let my music take me where my heart wants to go”.
That’s beautiful and just the way it should be.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy,
Slim
