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Feb 27, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Photography by Denny Renshaw San Fermin

San Fermin, the orchestral rock band led by Ellis Ludwig-Leone, have announced a new album, The Cormorant I & II, and shared a new song from it, “Little Star,” via a video for the track directed by Ludwig-Leone. The Cormorant I & II is due out March 27 via Better Company/Sony Music Masterworks. It contains both parts of a two-part album. Half the album, The Cormorant I, was released last October, and the other half features eight all new songs. Watch the “Little Star” video below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art.

Ludwig-Leone had this to say about the “Little Star” video in a press release: “I wrote these songs in the town of Ísafjörður, in northwest Iceland, in 2018. One evening, I went on a bike ride around the fjord with a friend, and I thought it would be a cool concept for a music video. A year later, I pitched it to the label, and they were into the idea, and suggested that I direct it, which I had never done before. The song is about chasing some ideal version of yourself that you can’t ever quite attain, so we had our actress (Kristbjörg Lára Gunnarsdóttir) play both riders. I found that once the cameras started rolling, it was actually really similar to being in the recording studio. You have this idea of what the thing should be, and then you work with what you’ve got. There’s a footprint to the song and a rhythm to the shots, and as long as you keep that in mind and have a good team around you, you’re in good hands.”

The Cormorant I included “Hunger,” a new single San Fermin shared in June 2019 via a video for the track (it was one of our Songs of the Week). In August 2019 San Fermin also shared The Cormorant I track “The Living.”

San Fermin’s previous two albums were 2017’s Belong and 2015’s Jackrabbit. Ludwig-Leone wrote The Cormorant I & II in Ísafjörður, Iceland. He then recorded it in Brooklyn with the help of his bandmates: vocalist Allen Tate, vocalist/violinist Claire Wellin, trumpet player John Brandon, saxophonist Stephen Chen, percussionist Michael Hanf, and guitarists Tyler McDiarmid and Aki Ishiguro. The album also features Attacca Quartet and harpist Lavinia Meijer.

Read our My Favorite Album Issue article where Ludwig-Leone wrote about Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love.

Read our 2015 interview with San Fermin.

The Cormorant I & II Tracklist:

1. The Cormorant
2. Cerulean Gardens
3. Hickman Creek
4. The Hunger
5. Summer by the Void
6. Saints
7. The Living
8. The Myth
9. Swamp Song
10. Westfjords
11. Do Less
12. Little Star
13. Berkley Bridge
14. Freedom (Yeah Yeah!)
16. Waterworld
17. Tunnel Mt.

San Fermin Tour Dates:

Mon, May 11 - Los Angeles, CA - Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever
Thu, May 14 - San Francisco, CA - Swedish American Hall
Sat, May 16 - Sonoma, CA - Sebastiani Theater
Mon, May 18 - Seattle, WA - The Triple Door
Tue, May 19 - Portland, OR - The Old Church
Thu, May 28 - Chicago, IL - Old Town School of Folk
Fri, May 29 - Minneapolis, MN - Ice House
Sat, May 30 - Madison, WI - High Noon
Mon, June 1 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark
Tue, June 2 - Lexington, KY - The Burl
Wed, June 3 - Nashville, TN - City Winery
Mon, June 8 - Washington, DC - City Winery
Tue, June 9 - Washington, DC - City Winery
Wed, June 10 - Philadelphia, PA - City Winery
Fri, June 12 - Portland, ME - SPACE
Sat, June 13 - Providence, RI - Columbus Theater
Sun, June 14 - Boston, MA - City Winery
Mon, June 15 - Boston, MA - City Winery

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