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May 13, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Okkervil River (the project of Will Sheff and backing band) has shared a new song, “In a Light,” and announced some fall solo tour dates that will be co-headlining shows with Damien Jurado. Another new song, “It Hasn’t Happened Yet,” is promised tomorrow (Friday, May 14). Check out “In a Light” below, followed by the tour dates.

Okkervil River’s last album, In the Rainbow Rain, came out in 2018 via ATO.

Sheff had this to say about the new songs in a press release: “I wrote ‘In a Light’ with our guitarist Will Graefe right before I moved out of Brooklyn. We recorded it in one take at Figure 8 studios, with Frank LoCrasto adding piano and Ryan Dugre on second guitar. It sounded great instantly, but it didn’t seem like the right moment to release the track, and the track didn’t seem to be quite at home on In the Rainbow Rain. So I kept it under my hat. I’d had ‘It Hasn’t Happened Yet’ kicking around as well, and I’d always wanted to release that one on its own but I could never get the recording to sit quite right. Finally I had a tandem eureka moment with both of them—I figured out what I needed to do to fix ‘It Hasn’t Happened Yet’ and I felt the time was right for ‘In a Light.’ So I brushed them off and sent them to Dave Cerminara to mix. The whole process was incredibly smooth and easy. I think of these songs as two sides of the same coin, supporting each other by saying two different but complementary things. And even though I started them a couple years in the past they both seem to want to talk about the present and future.”

“In a Light” is over six minutes long and slowly builds into a bit of a psych rock jam.

Read our The End interview on endings and death with Okkervil River’s Will Sheff.

Damien Jurado is releasing a new album, The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania, tomorrow via Maraqopa Records.

Okkervil River (Solo) & Damien Jurado Fall U.S. Tour Dates:

9/21 - Evanston, IL - SPACE
9/22 - Evanston, IL - SPACE
9/23 - Grand Rapids, MI - Wealthy Theatre
9/24 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark
9/25 - Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall
9/26 - Nelsonville, OH - Stuart’s Opera House
9/28 - Nashville, TN - Third Man Records
9/29 - Atlanta, GA - City Winery
9/30 - Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre
10/1 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
10/2 - Vienna, VA - Barns at Wolf Trap *
10/3 - Woodstock, NY Levon Helm Studios ^
10/5 - Boston, MA - City Winery
10/6 - Brooklyn, NY - To Be Announced
10/7 - Holyoke, MA - Gateway City Arts
12/1 - Santa Ana, CA - Ebell of Santa Ana
12/2 - Ojai, CA - Ojai Women’s Club
12/3 - Oakland, CA - Starline Social Club
12/4 - Big Sur, CA - Henry Miller Memorial Library (early show)
12/4 - Big Sur, CA - Henry Miller Memorial Library (late show)
12/5 - Sonoma, CA - Sebastiani Theater
12/8 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
12/9 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
12/10 - Tacoma, WA - Fawcett Hall
12/11 - Bellingham, WA - Wild Buffalo

* On sale at a later time
^ with Elvis Perkins

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