The Barr Brothers Reveal Sophomore LP 'Sleeping Operator'

BY Alex HudsonPublished Jun 11, 2014

Back in 2011, Montreal folk outfit the Barr Brothers earned Exclaim!'s Mark of Excellence with their self-titled debut. Now, they're ready to follow it up with their sophomore LP. Sleeping Operator arrives on October 7 through Secret City Records.

The album was self-produced by the Barr Brothers, with recording and mixing handled by Ryan Freeland (the Rolling Stones, Billy Bragg). Sessions took place in Montreal and Los Angeles, with contributors including Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire, the Luyas, Little Scream, Patrick Watson's band and more. The diverse arrangements include instruments like horns, marimba, hammered dulcimer, pedal steel, a fan-made instrument called a cardboardium, and an African instrument called a ngoni.

The 13 tracks were selected from more than 40 songs that the band recorded during the album-making process. According to a press release, the songs are "meditative and explosive, exploring the far reaches of folk laced with West African influences, hypnotic modernist pulsing and beyond." It's said to be intimate despite its ambitious scope.

Scroll past the tracklist below to see the band's tour schedule. It includes a few Ontario festival dates this summer and some Quebec stops in the fall. These are interspersed between U.S. legs and European jaunts.

At the bottom of the page, watch a short trailer for Sleeping Operator.

Read our October 2014 cover story on the Barr Brothers here.

Sleeping Operator:

1. Static Orphans
2. Love Ain't Enough
3. Wolves
4. Even the Darkness Has Arms
5. Come in the Water
6. Little Lover
7. How the Heroine Dies
8. Valhallas
9. Half Crazy
10. Bring Me Your Love
11. England
12. The Bear at the Window
13. Please Let Me Let it Go

Tour dates

06/15 Brooklyn, NY - Rough Trade NYC (Northside Festival) #
06/20 Toronto, ON - Massey Hall (NXNE) * 
07/05 Orillia, ON - Mariposa Folk Festival
07/06 Orillia, ON - Mariposa Folk Festival
07/18 Barnstaple, UK - Somersault Festival
07/19 Salisbury, UK - Larmer Tree Festival
07/20 Munich, DE - Olympiapark
07/21 Stuttgart, DE - Jugendhaus Feuerbach
07/22 Würzburg, DE - Uni Würzburg
07/23 Mannheim, DE - Marktplatz Mannheim
08/01 Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon
08/03 Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon
08/23 Burlington, VT - WYSIWYG Farm, Food, Music & Art Festival
08/24 Burlington, VT - WYSIWYG Farm, Food, Music & Art Festival
08/29 Salisbury, UK  - End of the Road Festival
08/30 Salisbury, UK  - End of the Road Festival
08/31 Salisbury, UK  - End of the Road Festival
09/05 Berlin, DE - First We Take Berlin
09/27 Santa Monica, CA - Newport Folk Presents Way Over Yonder ^
11/06 Montreal, QC - Metropolis %
11/07 Sherbrooke, QC - Theatre Granada % 
11/08 Quebec, QC - Imperial de Quebec % 
11/14 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle 
11/15 Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center 
11/22 Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair  

# with Swaai Boys
* with Spiritualized
^ with Jackson Browne
% with Bahamas

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