After quietly reemerging on the bill for Paper Bag Records' 20th-anniversary concert series earlier this week, Frog Eyes (f.k.a. Soft Plastics, f.k.a. Frog Eyes) have officially reunited with plans to release a new album, The Bees, for the label on April 29.
Alongside that news, they've also shared new single "When You Turn on the Light." Frontman Carey Mercer had the following to say of the track in a statement:
I never made music when I was 21. I lived in an apartment with friends in Vancouver, and my room was full of cans of toxic enamel-marine paint. I would wake up at 3:30 p.m. and paint on my bedroom wall, this crazed fresco, a hellish umber landscape that glittered street light reflections from the enamel paint. I had to sleep by my open window because the fumes were atrocious. I started to deteriorate, but the fresco was really coming along.
One time I came home from a late afternoon walk and the building manager was standing in my bedroom looking at the painting with a look of wonder but also fear, and the fear turned to anger when I walked in. She kept her food in our fridge because her roommate kept stealing her cream cheese, and we used to dread the sound of her key turning in our lock. But it meant we could eat her cream cheese. When she confronted me about the fresco, I told her I was enriching the apartment and lied about my standing in the world, describing upcoming shows in Milan and Turin. And Toronto, for believability. She left and we were evicted a bit later but I think it had more to do with other things and not just the fresco. Some of the roommates were amazing musicians, some of them passed away. I think the song "When You Turn on the Light" describes walking into my bedroom in that apartment.
The Bees will mark Frog Eyes' first new record since 2018's Violet Psalms — though they did release 5 Dreams as Soft Plastics in 2020. Along with Mercer, drummer Melanie Campbell and keyboardist Shyla Seller will be celebrating 20 years as a group in 2022, two decades on from the release of their debut LP, The Bloody Hand.
Consider all that history when listening to their latest, "When You Turn on the Light," below. There, you'll also find the record's tracklisting.
The Bees:
1. Rainbow Stew
2. The Bees
3. When You Turn on the Light
4. I Was an Oligarch
5. He's a Lonely Song
6. A Speck of Dust
7. Scottish Wine
8. A Rhyme for the Star
9. Here Is a Place to Stop
10. Everything Dies
Alongside that news, they've also shared new single "When You Turn on the Light." Frontman Carey Mercer had the following to say of the track in a statement:
I never made music when I was 21. I lived in an apartment with friends in Vancouver, and my room was full of cans of toxic enamel-marine paint. I would wake up at 3:30 p.m. and paint on my bedroom wall, this crazed fresco, a hellish umber landscape that glittered street light reflections from the enamel paint. I had to sleep by my open window because the fumes were atrocious. I started to deteriorate, but the fresco was really coming along.
One time I came home from a late afternoon walk and the building manager was standing in my bedroom looking at the painting with a look of wonder but also fear, and the fear turned to anger when I walked in. She kept her food in our fridge because her roommate kept stealing her cream cheese, and we used to dread the sound of her key turning in our lock. But it meant we could eat her cream cheese. When she confronted me about the fresco, I told her I was enriching the apartment and lied about my standing in the world, describing upcoming shows in Milan and Turin. And Toronto, for believability. She left and we were evicted a bit later but I think it had more to do with other things and not just the fresco. Some of the roommates were amazing musicians, some of them passed away. I think the song "When You Turn on the Light" describes walking into my bedroom in that apartment.
The Bees will mark Frog Eyes' first new record since 2018's Violet Psalms — though they did release 5 Dreams as Soft Plastics in 2020. Along with Mercer, drummer Melanie Campbell and keyboardist Shyla Seller will be celebrating 20 years as a group in 2022, two decades on from the release of their debut LP, The Bloody Hand.
Consider all that history when listening to their latest, "When You Turn on the Light," below. There, you'll also find the record's tracklisting.
The Bees:
1. Rainbow Stew
2. The Bees
3. When You Turn on the Light
4. I Was an Oligarch
5. He's a Lonely Song
6. A Speck of Dust
7. Scottish Wine
8. A Rhyme for the Star
9. Here Is a Place to Stop
10. Everything Dies