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Sep 18, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Matthew Dear

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Matthew Dear is releasing a new album, Bunny, on October 12 via Ghostly International. Now he has shared another song from it, “Horses,” which features Tegan and Sara. Check it out below, followed by Dear’s upcoming tour dates.

Dear had this to say about the song in a press release: There was a small gallery on Crosby Street in Soho with beautiful large photographs of the wild Sable Island Horses. One photograph in particular was of a horse affectionately biting another, both of their sun-drenched manes flowing wildly in the ocean air. My wife and I passed the window many times over the years and would always say, ‘that’s us.’ Majestic animals, fitting our definition of love. Unpredictable paths with choices made together and other times miles apart. Above all else, we wanted to be those two horses, eternally connected at the end of it all. The song is as deep of an homage to love as I’ve written. I probably won’t write another like this one. It took years to finish. Thank you to Tegan and Sara for helping realize the vision, and to Greg Ahee (Protomartyr) for stripping it all away and reminding me of the simplicity. This one means a lot.”

Tegan and Sara’s Sara Quin had this to say about the song in the press release: “I love being in Matthew’s music brain and leaving little ideas of my own wherever it makes sense. His songs sometimes feel abstract, like puzzles that I can’t stop listening to. It continues to be a great privilege and honor for us to collaborate with him.”

When Bunny was announced Dear shared two songs from it, “Bunny’s Dream” and “Echo” (both were honorable mentions on our Songs of the Week list). The album includes another song featuring Tegan and Sara, “Bad Ones,” which he shared as a single last year (and was one of our Songs of the Week). The album also includes another 2017 single, “Modafinil Blues.”

Bunny is Dear’s first album under his own name in six years, since 2012’s Beams, although he released a second album under his Audion alias in 2016.

Dear previously issued this statement about Bunny: “Some bands have retired and come back in the amount of time since my last album. Hell, I’ve even played a part in making two more humans since Beams. But hey old man, why aren’t I rested? Why’s your boy so damn tired? Where’s the music? Did I finally succumb to the burn out you always warned me of? Well, I DJ’d a lot, put out an Audion album, and submitted a DJ-Kicks mix. Throughout it all, as has been the case since I was 14, I made loads of weirdo music. If it weren’t digital, there’d be boxes of tapes and tapes and tapes. See, that’s the thing. I’m a tinkerer. I’m a loop obsessed sound hack. The process is what I get out of bed for. So what gives Pops? Where is the music?

“‘I make music for people who like my music’ is something I recently tweeted. There is something I’ve come to love about my career. I really can do whatever I want. So long as I feel it’s the best use of time, or yields results that translate into good music later. That’s where you’ll find the music. It’s in my head. It’s on my hard drives. It’s in my car driving the girls to school in the morning. They even asked me how Tegan and Sara snuck in and out of the house without them noticing to make those songs with me. The music is always there. It’s just a matter of time before it starts to bubble over and finally get stamped ‘property of the people.’

“I’m calling this one Bunny. As always, it’s got a little bit of everything that makes me who I am. Why Bunny? Fundamentally, I love the way the word looks and sounds. I love the way it rolls off the mind and onto the tongue. It’s a funny thing too. Bunnies are cute. Bunnies are weird. They’re soft. They’re sexy. They’re lucky. They wildly procreate. They trick hunters, but get tricked by turtles. They lead you down holes. They adorn the headboards of children’s beds, lined up meticulously just as mom did when she was your age. Bunnies are seemingly with us from birth, and probably skitter past on our way out the big door. ‘Viste al conejito papá?’ ‘Sí, fue una buena sopa!’ Good one pops.

“So here is my album. Already a fading stamp on the passport of a time traveler. I do it all for you. I couldn’t quit if I wanted to. I’m only getting started.”

Matthew Dear North American Tour Dates:

Nov 01 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre
Nov 02 Los Angeles, CA @ 1720
Nov 03 Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room
Nov 04 Portland, OR @ Holocene
Nov 08 San Francisco, CA @ Public Works
Nov 09 Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw
Nov 11 Seattle, WA @ Nectar
Nov 15 Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village
Nov 16 Brooklyn, NY @ National Sawdust

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