Sean Rowe Returns with 'The Salesman and the Shark'

BY Alex HudsonPublished Jun 12, 2012

Sean Rowe signed with the esteemed Epitaph Records offshoot Anti- for a 2011 re-release of his album Magic, and the New York singer-songwriter is wasting no time in preparing the follow-up for the label. Evocatively titled The Salesman and the Shark, the album will be out on August 28.

The album was produced by Woody Jackson at L.A.'s Vox Recording Studios. A press release notes that the songs are both "warmly familiar and astonishingly new," as Rowe "brilliantly reconfigures classic sounds in support of his intensely observational lyrics and remarkable and ever evolving vocals."

The 12 tracks were recorded live in studio with the help of a nine-piece string section. The results are said to span everything from country numbers to more fuzzy textures.

Rowe said in a statement, "The songs on this record are all very different structurally but they have this consistent sound and feel which has to do with where and how they were recorded. Early on we agreed on the aesthetic of the record which was just keeping it as organic and as live as possible. And I think it really gave it that timeless feel."

See the the tracklist below, and scroll down to see Rowe's upcoming tour dates, which include a Toronto gig this weekend at NXNE. Hear the song "Bring Back the Night" over at American Songwriter.

The Salesman and the Shark:

1. Bring Back The Night
2. Flying
3. The Lonely Maze
4. Joe's Cult
5. Signs
6. The Wall
7. The Ballad of Buttermilk Falls
8. Horses
9. Old Shoes
10. Downwind
11. Thunderbird
12. Long Way Home

Tour dates:

6/16 Toronto, ON - Dakota Tavern (NXNE)
6/19 Charlottesville, VA - The Southern *

6/20 Wilmington, DE - World Cafe Live *

6/21 New York, NY - Rockwood Music Hall *

6/24 Kingston, NY - Keegan Ales

6/3 New York, NY - Pianos 

7/6 New York, NY - The Living Room

7/7 Saratoga Springs, NY - Caffe Lena

7/10 Arlington, VA - IOTA Club & Cafe

7/11 Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live Upstairs

7/14 New Haven, CT - Cafe Nine

7/15 Asbury Park, NJ - The Saint

7/21 New York, NY - The Mercury Lounge

* with Ben Sollee

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