Late last year, Chicago garage pop combo Smith Westerns announced their final shows ahead of an indefinite hiatus. While it looks like we won't be seeing them anytime soon (if ever again), frontman Cullen Omori has now launched a solo project and signed to Sub Pop.
Omori has apparently been working on solo tunes since last year. According to a press release from Sub Pop, his new music marks a stylistic shift from what he was doing before.
The announcement says, "While his former project synthesized familiar rock of years past (T. Rex, Bowie), Cullen builds upon his own musical past and reaches towards the future of what guitar rock could be. His songs marry dark yet blissful pop with vocal melodies and hooks that are at once both immediate and begging to be reinterpreted again and again."
Previously, Smith Westerns released albums through Fat Possum and Mom + Pop Music.
His debut full-length under his own name will be out in 2016. He will play his first solo gig in Chicago on October 30 at Schuba's. Omori told the Chicago Reader, "The set of songs I have now are all really strong and really made the cut and are much faster than anything I did in Smith Westerns; they're a little bit more upbeat, tempo-wise."
He said that Smith Westerns' 2013 song "Varsity" is similar to what he's working on now. Hear that tune below.
Omori is still only 25, which shows you just how young he was when Smith Westerns released their self-titled debut in 2009. Stay tuned for details about his solo debut to emerge in due course.
Omori has apparently been working on solo tunes since last year. According to a press release from Sub Pop, his new music marks a stylistic shift from what he was doing before.
The announcement says, "While his former project synthesized familiar rock of years past (T. Rex, Bowie), Cullen builds upon his own musical past and reaches towards the future of what guitar rock could be. His songs marry dark yet blissful pop with vocal melodies and hooks that are at once both immediate and begging to be reinterpreted again and again."
Previously, Smith Westerns released albums through Fat Possum and Mom + Pop Music.
His debut full-length under his own name will be out in 2016. He will play his first solo gig in Chicago on October 30 at Schuba's. Omori told the Chicago Reader, "The set of songs I have now are all really strong and really made the cut and are much faster than anything I did in Smith Westerns; they're a little bit more upbeat, tempo-wise."
He said that Smith Westerns' 2013 song "Varsity" is similar to what he's working on now. Hear that tune below.
Omori is still only 25, which shows you just how young he was when Smith Westerns released their self-titled debut in 2009. Stay tuned for details about his solo debut to emerge in due course.