Late last year The Smith Street Band promised the delivery of a new record and today the band announce their fourth album, More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me will be released on Friday April 7 via their very own, newly established label Pool House Records.
First cut from the album, ‘Death To The Lads’, fast became a live anthem, landing #21 in triple j’s Hottest 100 2016 and to coincide with today’s album announce The Smithies release new single ‘Birthdays’.
A song about a chance meeting on a pier in Hobart, ‘Birthdays’ opens with lead singer Wil Wagner’s familiar tug at the heartstrings, with opening line, “Spent the morning cleaning my room, in the hope you’d ask to see it soon” and paints the style of detailed narrative that we have come to expect of Wagner’s lyrics. The track also ventures into new territory, featuring a synth-laden bridge, and introducing the guest vocals of former Smith Street tour buddy Jess Locke.
The new single is accompanied by a brilliant film clip directed by Neal Walters, who was also responsible for the heartwarming video clip for ‘Death To The Lads’ which featured each band members’ mums. The ‘Birthdays’ video tells a tale of growing up, love and technology — all consistent themes throughout The Smith Street Band's career to-date. Watch the clip for ‘Birthdays’ via the image below.
The eagerly awaited follow up to 2014’s breakthrough album, Throw Me In The River, was written while the band traversed the globe playing music and making friends in countless countries. From enormous festivals like Reading and Leeds (UK), Groezrock (Belgium) and Splendour in the Grass to stageless squats across Europe and American dive bars, the Smith Street Band have seen it all and they’ve poured those experiences into their boldest and most ambitious release to date.
Recorded in the picturesque surrounds of Stinson Beach, California at Panoramic House, the record also features a world class cast behind the desk. The sessions were produced by longtime friend and collaborator Jeff Rosenstock, engineered by Jack Shirley (Joyce Manor, Deafheaven, Hard Girls), mixed by John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., The Hold Steady) and mastered by Greg Calbi (Bob Dylan, Ramones, Bruce Springsteen).
The Smith Street Band - More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me is released in Australia via Pool House Records / Remote Control Records, United States via SideOneDummy Records, Uniter Kingdom via Specialist Subject Records and in Europe via Uncle M Music.
More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me
Tracklisting:
1. Forrest
2. Birthdays
3. Death To The Lads
4. Song For You
5. Passiona
6. Run Into The World
7. Shine
8. 25
9. It Kills Me To Have To Be Alive
10. Suffer
11. Young Once
12. Laughing (Or Pretending To Laugh)