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Feb 20, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Cass McCombs

Cass McCombs released a new album, Tip of the Sphere, earlier this month via ANTI-. Now he has shared a video for the album’s “Sleeping Volcanoes.” In the strange video McCombs wears a medical mask on the streets of San Francisco and in the forests of Marin County, meanwhile “dancers destroy Tahiti Pehrson’s contemporary art piece, The Rising Body.” Watch it below, followed by McCombs’ upcoming tour dates.

In a press release McCombs says “Sleeping Volcanoes” is about “people passing each other on the sidewalk unaware of the emotional volatility they are brushing past, like a sleeping volcano that could erupt at any moment.”

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) and a video for “Absentee” (which was also 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.

Read our review of Tip of the Sphere.

Also read our 2016 interview with Cass McCombs.

Cass McCombs Tour Dates:

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 @ Horseshoe 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 *
Thur. April 25 - Marfa, TX @ Marfa Myths
Sat. May 25 - Madrid, SP @ Tomavistas Festival
Tue. May 28 - Prague, Czech Republic @ MeetFactory
Wed. May 29 - Berlin, Germany @ Frannz-Club
Thu. May 30 - Copenhagen, Denmark @ Alice
Fri. May 31 - Hamburg, Germany @ Nochtspeicher
Sat. June 1 - Gent, Belgium @ DOK Box
Mon. June 3 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso Nord
Tue. June 4 - Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
Thu. June 6 - London, UK @ EartH
Fri. June 7 - Helsinki, Finland @ Sideways Festival
Wed. June 19 - Calgary, AB @ Sled Island
Thu. Aug. 29 - Tollard Royal, UK @ End of the Road Festival

* = with Sam Evian

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