After having issued his Dome Branches demos set last fall, Dirty Projectors bassist Nat Baldwin is now ready to reveal his first proper solo LP in three years. Dubbed In the Hollows, Western Vinyl will have the set in stores April 29.
In the Hollows follows 2011's People Changes and began to take shape while Baldwin was training for a marathon in Maine, leading him to work out in the mornings and work on music in the evenings. After hitting Pawtucket, RI studio Machines Wwth Magnets to lay down the tracks, Baldwin roped in Otto Hauser to add drums and percussion, as well as Rob Moose and Clarice Jensen to provide string arrangements.
A press release describes the nine-song effort as Baldwin's "most soulful and ambitious collection of songs to date," and according to the four-stringer, it's a more concise offering than his previous solo platters.
"I wanted to achieve a consistency throughout that my past albums have lacked," Baldwin said in a statement. "I wanted the strings to add to the mournful quality of the songs, weaving their way through the sonic terrain, providing emotional emphasis, but also leaving necessary amounts of space."
Sonically, Baldwin said the album is inspired by the likes of Nick Drake, Bill Callahan, Joanna Newsom, while the lyrics on the record blend autobiography with fiction. Topics covered are said to include "boxing, drowning, bodybuilding, target practice, will power, Steve Prefontaine, competition, separation, isolation, devastation, manipulation, conflagration, intoxication, and suicide."
Along with the tracklisting and some U.S. tour info, you can check out the stirring title track, initially driven by staccato string stabs and Baldwin's falsetto before fleshing itself out into a full-band arrangement, down below.
In the Hollows:
1. Wasted
2. Knockout
3. Half My Life
4. In The Hollows
5. The End of Night
6. Cosmos Pose
7. Sharpshooter
8. Bored To Death
9. A Good Day To Die
Tour dates:
03/14 Biddeford, ME - The Oak and the Ax
03/15 Bar Harbor, ME - Lompoc Café
04/04 Iowa City, IA - Mission Creek Festival
04/30 Kittery, ME - BUOY
05/01 Pawtucket, RI - Machines With Magnets
05/02 Portland, ME - Space
05/03 Winooski, VT - Winooski United Methodist Church
05/28 Lancaster, OH - Rockmill Brewery Tasting Room
05/29 Chicago, IL - Constellation
05/30 Champaign, IL - Mike 'n' Molly's
05/31 Bloomington, IN - Rootcellar Lounge
06/01 Louisville, KY - Dreamland
06/02 Cincinnati, OH - The Ice Cream Factory
06/04 Brooklyn, NY - Baby's All Right
06/06 New Haven, CT - Cafe Nine
06/07 Hudson, NY - The Spotty Dog Books & Ale
06/08 Peterborough, NH - The Thing In The Spring
In the Hollows follows 2011's People Changes and began to take shape while Baldwin was training for a marathon in Maine, leading him to work out in the mornings and work on music in the evenings. After hitting Pawtucket, RI studio Machines Wwth Magnets to lay down the tracks, Baldwin roped in Otto Hauser to add drums and percussion, as well as Rob Moose and Clarice Jensen to provide string arrangements.
A press release describes the nine-song effort as Baldwin's "most soulful and ambitious collection of songs to date," and according to the four-stringer, it's a more concise offering than his previous solo platters.
"I wanted to achieve a consistency throughout that my past albums have lacked," Baldwin said in a statement. "I wanted the strings to add to the mournful quality of the songs, weaving their way through the sonic terrain, providing emotional emphasis, but also leaving necessary amounts of space."
Sonically, Baldwin said the album is inspired by the likes of Nick Drake, Bill Callahan, Joanna Newsom, while the lyrics on the record blend autobiography with fiction. Topics covered are said to include "boxing, drowning, bodybuilding, target practice, will power, Steve Prefontaine, competition, separation, isolation, devastation, manipulation, conflagration, intoxication, and suicide."
Along with the tracklisting and some U.S. tour info, you can check out the stirring title track, initially driven by staccato string stabs and Baldwin's falsetto before fleshing itself out into a full-band arrangement, down below.
In the Hollows:
1. Wasted
2. Knockout
3. Half My Life
4. In The Hollows
5. The End of Night
6. Cosmos Pose
7. Sharpshooter
8. Bored To Death
9. A Good Day To Die
Tour dates:
03/14 Biddeford, ME - The Oak and the Ax
03/15 Bar Harbor, ME - Lompoc Café
04/04 Iowa City, IA - Mission Creek Festival
04/30 Kittery, ME - BUOY
05/01 Pawtucket, RI - Machines With Magnets
05/02 Portland, ME - Space
05/03 Winooski, VT - Winooski United Methodist Church
05/28 Lancaster, OH - Rockmill Brewery Tasting Room
05/29 Chicago, IL - Constellation
05/30 Champaign, IL - Mike 'n' Molly's
05/31 Bloomington, IN - Rootcellar Lounge
06/01 Louisville, KY - Dreamland
06/02 Cincinnati, OH - The Ice Cream Factory
06/04 Brooklyn, NY - Baby's All Right
06/06 New Haven, CT - Cafe Nine
06/07 Hudson, NY - The Spotty Dog Books & Ale
06/08 Peterborough, NH - The Thing In The Spring