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Apr 16, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Photography by Ivana Kličković Cate Le Bon

Welsh singer/songwriter/guitarist Cate Le Bon is releasing a new album, Reward, on May 24 via Mexican Summer. Previously she shared its first single, “Daylight Matters,” which was one of our Songs of the Week, as well as a video for “Daylight Matters.” Now she has shared another new song from the album, “Home to You,” via a video for the track. Le Bon doesn’t feature in the video directed by Phil Collins (no, not that Phil Collins). It was filmed in the Lunik IX neighborhood of Košice (Eastern Slovakia), which houses a Roma community that, as a press release states, “due to successive governmental and municipal policies, often live in slums and on isolated, dilapidated estates.” Watch it below, followed by Le Bon’s upcoming tour dates.

Collins had this to say about the song in the press release: “In an age of discord, in which the politics of division and xenophobia - from Brexit to Trump - tears communities apart across nations and continents, it is crucial to stand in solidarity everywhere with those subjected to routine discrimination and denied a sense of belonging. With its invocation of yearning, absence and loss, Cate’s hypnotic canon expresses this conviction with the lithe, acute awareness found in the best of critical pop, and speaks to its moment just like ‘Ghost Town’ or ‘Private Armies’ spoke to theirs.”

The press release goes into further detail: “Historically, and again in recent years, Roma communities across Europe have been targets of persecution and systemic neglect, from housing and access to basic services, such as electricity and water, to employment and health. These attitudes are reflected in the hostility and casual racism of the general population. Working closely with a number of local protagonists, Collins finds moments of dignity and joy amidst everyday hardships.”

In terms of her solo work, Reward is the follow-up to 2016’s Crab Day, although last year she released Hippo Lite, her second album with DRINKS, a collaboration with Tim Presley of White Fence. Le Bon also produced Deerhunter‘s recent album.

Le Bon spent a year living in isolation in the Lake District in the UK, by day making wood furniture and by night playing piano and writing songs. “There’s a strange romanticism to going a little bit crazy and playing the piano to yourself and singing into the night,” Le Bon said in a previous press release.

Of the album title, Le Bon said: “People hear the word ‘reward’ and they think that it’s a positive word, and to me it’s quite a sinister word in that it depends on the relationship between the giver and the receiver. I feel like it’s really indicative of the times we’re living in where words are used as slogans, and everything is slowly losing its meaning.”

The album features Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint, H. Hawkline, and Samur Khouja. The latter co-produced Reward with Le Bon.

Cate Le Bon Tour Dates:

Sat. May 18 - Wrexham, UK @ Focus Wales Festival
Fri. May 24 - Rouen, FR @ Rush Festival
Sat. May 25 - Toulouse, FR @ Discipline Festival
Sun. May 26 - Madrid, ES @ Independance Club
Mon. May 27 - Donostia, ES @ Dabadaba
Tue. May 28 - Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound Festival
Wed. May 29 - Bordeaux, FR @ iBoat
Fri. May 31 - Hilvarenbeek, NL @ Best Kept Secret Festival
Sat. June 1 - Neustrelitz, DE @ Immergut Festival
Sun. June 2 - Berlin, DE @ Kantine Am Berghain
Mon. June 3 - Copenhagen, DK @ Den Grå Hal (w/ Deerhunter)
Tue. June 4 - Aarhus, DK @ Tape
Thu. June 6 - Cologne, DE @ Bumann & SOHN
Fri. June 7 - Brussels, BE @ Les Ateliers Claus
Sat. June 8 - Paris, FR @ Villette Sonique
Mon. June 10 - London, UK @ Village Underground
Sat. June 22 - Calgary, AB @ Sled Island Festival
Tue. June 25 - Kingston, NY @ BSP Kingston
Wed. June 26 - Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
Thu. June 27 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Fri. June 28 - Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
Sat. June 29 - North Adams, MA @ Solid Sound Festival
Sun. June 30 - Somerville, MA @ ONCE Lounge
Fri. July 5 - Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s
Sat. July 6 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Getty Center
Sun. July 7 - Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s Alley
Tue. July 9 - San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
Fri. July 12 - Seattle, WA @ Doug Fir Lounge
Sat. July 13 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Cafe
Thu. July 18 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue (w/ Parquet Courts)
Fri. July 19 - Chicago, IL - Constellation
Sat. July 20 - Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Festival
Thu. July 25 - New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage *
Fri. Aug. 23 - Bethesda, UK @ Neuadd Ogwen
Sat. Aug. 24 - West Lothian, UK @ Jupiter Rising Festival
Sun. Aug. 25 - Edinburgh, UK @ Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Tue. Aug. 27 - Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
Wed. Aug. 28 - Leeds, UK @ Riley Smith Theatre
Thu. Aug. 29 - Cardiff, UK @ Portland House
Sun. Sept. 1 - Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival

*w/ Kurt Vile & Dinosaur Jr

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