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Oct 16, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Local Natives

Local Natives have announced a new EP, Sour Lemon, and shared a new song from it, “Lemon,” which features guest vocals from Sharon Van Etten. There’s also a video for the song that also features Van Etten. Sour Lemon is due out next Friday, October 23, via Loma Vista and includes “Statues in the Garden (Arras),” a new song the band shared in September. Check out the “Lemon” video below, followed by the EP’s tracklist and cover art, as well as “Statues in the Garden (Arras).”

Chris Coady produced Sour Lemon, which was recorded in late 2019 at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles. Kenny Laubbacher directed the “Lemon” video, which was filmed at the LA River. The EP will be out digitally on October 23, but will have a 10-inch vinyl release on November 13.

Local Natives have also announced a livestream concert on October 21st at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET. It will be filmed at Lodge Room in Highland Park, Los Angeles and tickets are available here. The EP will stream in full before the concert starts.

Local Natives collectively had this to say about the EP in a press release: “We’re always working on new music, but songs tend to come at their own pace. There’s something freeing about writing without the goal of an album in mind. It feels like waking up for class only to realize that it’s Saturday and you can sleep in as long as you want. The songs on Sour Lemon each have their own long histories but they all finally decided to arrive at the same time. Rather than waiting, we decided to share them as soon as we could.”

Van Etten had this to say about the collaboration: “From the time we started writing to recording to shooting the video, I have moved to LA, Taylor had a child who is now 10 1/2 months, and Ryan is now engaged. I connected with the song at each stage: collaborating and getting to know each other, receiving their openness and generosity, recording the song and feeling the camaraderie and accepted as a part of the band, to shooting the video and reciprocating the longing and connection. Our friendship and our lives have grown since we first met, and this is a documentation of that… I’m looking forward to seeing where we all go from here.”

Local Natives released a new album, Violet Street, in 2019 via Loma Vista. In April they traded remixes with Foals.

Van Etten just released a new song, “Let Go,” earlier this week. It is featured in the PBS documentary film Feels Good Man. Van Etten released a new album, Remind Me Tomorrow, in 2019 via Jagjaguwar. Since then she’s been fairly active. In February she shared a brand new song, “Beaten Down,” via a video for the track. “Beaten Down” was one of our Songs of the Week. In March she shared another new song, “Staring at a Mountain,” which was taken from the indie film Never Rarely Sometimes Always that Van Etten also had an acting role in. In April she teamed up with the remaining members of Fountains of Wayne to pay tribute to the late Adam Schlesinger, who died of COVID-19. In May she partnered up with Josh Homme to cover Nick Lowe and performed a livestream concert. In September she sang guest vocals on the Deep Sea Diver song “Impossible Weight,” which was #1 on our Songs of the Week list.

Remind Me Tomorrow was our Album of the Week and one of our Top 100 Albums of 2019.

Read our in-depth interview with Sharon Van Etten on Remind Me Tomorrow and check out our exclusive photo shoot with her.

Sour Lemon Tracklist:

1. Lemon featuring Sharon Van Etten
2. Statues in the Garden (Arras)
3. Lost
4. Future Lover

Also, Local Natives’ Nik Ewing recently launched his own label, Chewing Inc. Its first release was “It Falls,” a new single by Los Angeles’ Tam Visher, from his upcoming album 30 Years in the Making. “The album is a mix of new and old songs about being in love and remembering love and heartbreak. ‘It Falls’ captures the funky grooves in between those spaces,” Visher said in a recent press release. “I was lucky to be deeply in love with someone and unlucky to be deeply out of touch with reality.” Ewing directed the lyric video. Also watch it below.

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