The Barr Brothers' folky approach gets a bit of a new age twist on their latest sneak preview from Sleeping Operator, a marimba-soaked number called "Love Ain't Enough."
The track opens with a dizzying arpeggio off of a mallet-manned marimba, explained in a press release as being inspired by Steve Reich, with the band later adding broken fuzzbox guitar solos, glass bottle slide work and the heaven-sent sound of a lightly plucked harp. As for the lyrical content, the band explains in a statement that despite the downer title, "'Love Ain't Enough' is the song that happens when you give up on giving up on love. Either one has some kind of epiphany, or it becomes too exhausting to fight it anymore."
You can give in to the Barr Brothers by streaming their new single down below. Sleeping Operator drops October 7 via Secret City Records, and the band already have a pile of tour dates lined up to support the record. See their schedule, which includes some Canadian stops, below.
Tour dates:
09/05 Berlin, DE - First We Take Berlin
09/12 Laval, QC - MRCY Festival #
09/27 Santa Monica, CA - Newport Folk Presents Way Over Yonder ±
10/09 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre Tickets ^
10/10 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre Tickets ^
10/11 Lawrence, KS - The Granada Theatre Tickets ^
10/14 London, UK - The Lexington
10/15 Cologne, DE - Studio 672
10/16 Hamburg, DE - Prinzenbar
10/17 Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso
10/19 Zurich, SZ - Bogen F
10/20 Brussels, BE - Witlofbar
10/21 Paris, FR - La Flèche d'Or
10/23 Manchester, UK - The Castle Hotel
10/24 Dublin, IE - Whelan's
10/25 Bangor, UK - Beach House
10/26 Sligo, IE - Sligo Live Ireland
10/28 Edinburgh, UK - Voodoo Rooms
10/29 Birmingham, UK - Hare & Hounds
10/31 Bilbao, EP - BIME Festival
11/05 Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall %
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
11/18 Washington, DC - Sixth & I
11/19 Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle
11/21 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
11/22 Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
12/06 Seattle, USA - The Tractor
12/07 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
12/10 San Fransisco, CA - The Chapel
12/11 Santa Cruz, CA - Moe's Alley
^ with The War On Drugs
* with Patrick Watson & Kishi Bashi
# with Neutral Milk Hotel
± with Jackson Browne
% with Bahamas
Read our October 2014 cover story on the Barr Brothers here.
The track opens with a dizzying arpeggio off of a mallet-manned marimba, explained in a press release as being inspired by Steve Reich, with the band later adding broken fuzzbox guitar solos, glass bottle slide work and the heaven-sent sound of a lightly plucked harp. As for the lyrical content, the band explains in a statement that despite the downer title, "'Love Ain't Enough' is the song that happens when you give up on giving up on love. Either one has some kind of epiphany, or it becomes too exhausting to fight it anymore."
You can give in to the Barr Brothers by streaming their new single down below. Sleeping Operator drops October 7 via Secret City Records, and the band already have a pile of tour dates lined up to support the record. See their schedule, which includes some Canadian stops, below.
Tour dates:
09/05 Berlin, DE - First We Take Berlin
09/12 Laval, QC - MRCY Festival #
09/27 Santa Monica, CA - Newport Folk Presents Way Over Yonder ±
10/09 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre Tickets ^
10/10 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre Tickets ^
10/11 Lawrence, KS - The Granada Theatre Tickets ^
10/14 London, UK - The Lexington
10/15 Cologne, DE - Studio 672
10/16 Hamburg, DE - Prinzenbar
10/17 Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso
10/19 Zurich, SZ - Bogen F
10/20 Brussels, BE - Witlofbar
10/21 Paris, FR - La Flèche d'Or
10/23 Manchester, UK - The Castle Hotel
10/24 Dublin, IE - Whelan's
10/25 Bangor, UK - Beach House
10/26 Sligo, IE - Sligo Live Ireland
10/28 Edinburgh, UK - Voodoo Rooms
10/29 Birmingham, UK - Hare & Hounds
10/31 Bilbao, EP - BIME Festival
11/05 Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall %
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
11/18 Washington, DC - Sixth & I
11/19 Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle
11/21 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
11/22 Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
12/06 Seattle, USA - The Tractor
12/07 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
12/10 San Fransisco, CA - The Chapel
12/11 Santa Cruz, CA - Moe's Alley
^ with The War On Drugs
* with Patrick Watson & Kishi Bashi
# with Neutral Milk Hotel
± with Jackson Browne
% with Bahamas
Read our October 2014 cover story on the Barr Brothers here.
