• News

• All

Jan 31, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Cass McCombs

Cass McCombs is releasing a new album, Tip of the Sphere, on February 8 via ANTI-. Now he has shared another song from it, “Absentee,” via a video for the song. The video features shadow puppets and other special effects designed by Lydia Greer and Caryl Kientz of Facing West Shadow Theatre. Watch it below, followed by McCombs’ upcoming tour dates. You can also now stream Tip of the Sphere a week early over at NPR Music.

A press release describes the song as such: “In ‘Absentee,’ McCombs ruminates on ancestral memories of British, colonialist absentee landlords during the Irish Potato Famine, on longing, hunger, and untended places in the heart.”

Previously McCombs shared the album’s first single, “Sleeping Volcanoes” (which was one of our Songs of the Week). Then he shared another song from the album, “Estrella.” He also did A Take Away Show for La Blogotheque that was filmed at the Dutch National Railway Museum when McCombs was in Utrecht playing the Le Guess Who? Festival in November and featured performances of both “Sleeping Volcanoes” and “Estrella.” Then he shared “The Great Pixley Train Robbery” (which was one of our Songs of the Week).

The album is the follow-up to 2016’s Mangy Love, which made Under the Radar’s Top 100 Albums of 2016 list. McCombs traditionally records his albums in bits and pieces in different studios over time, but took a different approach with Tip of the Sphere, recording the whole thing quickly in one location: Shahzad Ismaily’s Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn. A press release says this new approach “brought his songs a raw immediacy and a special balance of compassion and experimentation with the intent of making a more consistent statement.” Sam Owens (aka Sam Evian) engineered the album, which features McCombs on guitar and vocals, as well as Dan Horne (bass), Otto Hauser (drums), and Frank LoCrasto (piano, organ, and more), as well as some guests.

Also read our 2016 interview with Cass McCombs.

Cass McCombs Tour Dates:

Thu. Feb. 7 - Los Angeles, CA @ Amoeba Records
Mon. March 4 - Washington, DC @ Union Stage *
Tue. March 5 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live *
Thu. March 7 - Brooklyn, NY @ Murmrr
Fri. March 8 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
Sat. March 9 - Boston, MA @ The Sinclair *
Mon. March 11 - Toronto, ON @ Horsehoe Tavern *
Tue. March 12 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom*
Thu. March 14 - Nashville, TN @ EXIT/IN *
Fri. March 15 - Indianapolis, IN @ HiFi *
Sat. March 16 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall *
Sun. March 17 - Milwaukee, WI @ The BackRoom at Collectivo *
Mon. March 18 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
Wed. March 20 - Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre *
Sat. March 23 - Salt Lake City, UT @ The State Room *
Mon. March 25 - Vancouver, BC @ St. James *
Tue. March 26 - Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey *
Wed. March 27 - Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater *
Fri. March 29 - Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s *
Sat. March 30 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre *
Sun. March 31 - Las Vegas, NV@ The Beauty Bar*
Tue. April 2 - Santa Barbara, CA @ SOHo *
Thu. April 4 - Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s Alley *
Fri. April 5 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore *
Thu. April 25 - Marfa, TX@ Marfa Myths
Sat. May 25 - Madrid, SP @ Tomavistas Festival
Tue. May 28 - Prague, CZ @ MeetFactory
Wed. May 29 - Berlin, DE @ Frannz-Club
Thur. May 30 - Copenhagen, DK @ Alice
Fri. May 31 - Hamburg, DE @ Nochtspeicher
Sat. June 1 - Gent, BE @ DOK Box
Mon. June 3 - Amsterdam, NE @ Paradiso Nord
Tue. June 4 - Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
Thur. June 6 - London, UK @ EartH
Fri. June 7 - Helsinki, FI @ Sideways Festival
Fri. Aug. 30 - Mon. Sep. 2 - Larmer Tree Gardens, UK @ End of the Road Festival

* = with Sam Evian

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.