Drive-By Truckers' Patterson Hood has shared a new single from forthcoming album Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams, arriving via ATO Records on February 21.
The Chris Funk-produced project — Hood's fourth solo album and first in over 12 years — is further previewed today by "The Pool House," which arrives alongside a video by Frances Thrasher (a.k.a. Heaven4theYoung). The album features contributions from a massive roster of American alternative heroes in Waxahatchee, Wednesday, Lydia Loveless, Kevin Morby, Brad and Phil Cook (Megafaun), Hood's DBT bandmates, and many more.
Hood shared of the latest track in a release:
"The Pool House" was originally inspired by a night I spent at a creepy rental. A literal pool house for an apartment complex that I rented cheap for the night during a solo tour. It was off-season and the pool was dark green and filled with algae. The whole thing was creepy and as I'd had a couple of drinks, my mind was definitely wandering, conjuring up some macabre shit.
I wrote most of it during lockdown and demoed it then on my home rig.
I later recorded it with Nate Query (the Decemberists) playing upright bass and Dan Hunt (Neko Case) on drums. I played piano, guitar, vocals, and a trashcan as percussion on the bridge. Then I had Kyleen King do her magic adding viola and layers of strings (from her own arrangement) to it and the great Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) played flute, which he knocked out of the park. He had come by the studio to put some sax parts on some songs and I mentioned wanting a flute for this song. He asked me what kind of flute part I was thinking of and I said, "something like what Christ Wood would play in Traffic." He just smiled and said he'd see what he could do.
It's one of the weirdest and most twisted tracks I have ever recorded and I'm really thrilled with how it all turned out.
Frances Thrasher (Heaven4TheYoung), who painted the album cover, also does incredible and creepy stop-motion animation and has made me a super cool video for the release using a vintage dollhouse and her own amazing skills and talents.
Watch the video below, where you can also find the album's tracklist.
Hood is embarking on a solo tour in March, though no Canadian dates have been booked as of yet.
Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams:
1. Exploding Trees
1. A Werewolf and a Girl (with Lydia Loveless)
3. The Forks of Cypress (with Waxahatchee)
4. Miss Coldiron's Oldsmobile
5. The Pool House
6. The Van Pelt Parties (with Wednesday)
7. Last Hope
8. At Safe Distance
9. Airplane Screams
10. Pinocchio