New Orleans-based musician Benjamin Booker has announced his first new album in over seven years — news shared alongside lead single "LWA IN THE TRAILER PARK" and plans for a 2025 North American tour with Kenny Segal.
Co-produced by Segal, LOWER is due January 24 via Booker's new label, Fire Next Time Records. It's the long-awaited follow-up to 2017's Witness, as well as Booker's features on "Baby Steps" from last year's Maps — a collaborative album between Segal and billy woods — and "Doves" from Armand Hammer's We Buy Diabetic Test Strips.
Warbling, fuzzed-out lead single "LWA IN THE TRAILER PARK" comes along with a black and white music video, which you can watch below. "I felt particularly connected to Paul Schrader's work making this album," Booker said of the visual. "Like several of his movies, I wanted to look at a troubled character on the edge, reaching for transcendence. Now that I'm working on a series of connected videos, Schrader has had an influence in that arena as well, along with Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï and Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep."
Booker and Segal will hit the road starting February 2, 2025, in San Diego, CA. Their North American tour itinerary includes a couple of Canadian concerts at Toronto's Longboat Hall (February 21) and Montreal's L'Esco (February 22), with tickets going on sale this Friday (October 18).
LOWER:
1. BLACK OPPS
2. LWA IN THE TRAILER PARK
3. POMPEII STATUES
4. SLOW DANCE IN A GAY BAR
5. SPEAKING WITH THE DEAD
6. REBECCA LATIMER FELTON TAKES A BBC
7. NEW WORLD
8. SAME KIND OF LONELY
9. SHOW AND TELL
10. HEAVY ON MY MIND
11. HOPE FOR THE NIGHT
Benjamin Booker 2025 Tour Dates:
02/02 San Diego, CA - Soda Bar *
02/04 Santa Ana, CA - Constellation Room *
02/05 Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room *
02/06 San Francisco, CA - The Chapel *
02/08 Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios *
02/09 Seattle, WA - Madame Lou's *
02/10 Boise, ID - Neurolux *
02/11 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge *
02/13 Denver, CO - Marquis Theatre *
02/15 Omaha, NE - Reverb Lounge *
02/16 St. Paul, MN - Turf Club *
02/18 Chicago, IL - Subterranean *
02/19 Ferndale, MI - Magic Bag *
02/21 Toronto, ON - Longboat Hall *
02/22 Montreal, QC - L'Esco *
02/23 Boston, MA - Crystal Ballroom *
02/25 Brooklyn, NY - Public Records *
02/26 Brooklyn, NY - Public Records *
02/27 Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie *
02/28 Washington, D.C. - Union Stage *
03/02 Asheville, NC - Eulogy *
03/03 Atlanta, GA - Aisle 5 *
03/05 Nashville, TN - 3rd and Lindsley *
03/07 New Orleans, LA - Siberia *
* with Kenny Segal