After recording and releasing an EP a month for the entire year of 2006, youd think
Bishop Allen would deserve a year off. Instead, the band is preparing to release their long-awaited follow-up to
Charm School.
The Broken String is the bands first with
Dead Oceans, and features nine reworked tracks from the bands EP project, along with 2 unreleased songs. Compiling most of the songs from the EPs sounds like a cop out, but its not.
Dead Oceans Explains...
If Bishop Allen made a huge musical jump from the 2003 debut to the 2006 EPs, the band made a quantum leap on The Broken String. Of its 12 songs, 9 are reworked tracks from the EPs and two are previously unreleased. These are not just re-recordings: Bishop Allen has stepped out of the home studio and created definitive versions of songs that were originally conceived within the constraints of a monthly deadline. Benefiting from the earlier recordings and several tours, the songs' arrangements have grown, the production is lush, the lyrics are front and center, and the band's evolution has reached a new level. If Ed Sullivan were alive today, Bishop Allen's story-songs would be ripe for prime time. The Broken String is the follow-up for which Bishop Allen fans have long clamored.
Tracklist
The Monitor
Rain
Click, Click, Click, Click
The Chinatown Bus
Flight 180
Like Castanets
Butterfly Nets
Shrinking Violet
Corazon
Middle Management
Choose Again
The News From Your Bed
MP3: Bishop Allen:: Rain - from The Broken String
The band will also be out on the road all summer long supporting the album.
Tour Dates:
06/27/07 Chicago, IL - Beat Kitchen
06/28/07 Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace
07/20/07 New York, NY - Seaport Music Festival @ South Street Seaport
07/21/07 Philadelphia, PA - North Star
07/22/07 Washington, DC - The Black Cat
07/23/07 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
07/24/07 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
07/25/07 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon
07/26/07 Houston, TX - Proletariat
07/27/07 Austin, TX - Emo's
07/28/07 Denton, TX - Haileys
07/29/07 Dallas, TX - Free Instore @ Good Records 2PM
07/30/07 Phoenix, AZ - The Paper Heart
07/31/07 Los Angeles, CA - Echo
08/01/07 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
08/03/07 Portland, OR - Doug Fir
08/04/07 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
08/07/07 Denver, CO - Hi Dive
08/09/07 Chicago, IL - Subterranean
08/10/07 Bloomington, IN - The Bluebird
08/11/07 Dayton, CA - The Nite Owl
08/17/07 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Downstairs
08/18/07 New York, NY - The Bowery Ballroom
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David Pitz
