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Mar 13, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Photography by Richmond Lam The Dears

Montréal’s The Dears have announced a new album, Lovers Rock, and shared its first single, “The Worst of Us,” via a lyric video for the new song. They have also announced some new tour dates. Lovers Rock is due out May 15 via Dangerbird. Check out “The Worst of Us” below (as well as a radio edit of the song). Also below are the album’s tracklist and cover art, as well as the tour dates.

“The Worst of Us” starts off like a good, but expected, Dears rock song, but midway through completely changes tact, as thunderous drums and pounding piano take over for an instrumental interlude before the vocals come back in over strings. It makes for a very dynamic track and a promising precursor to the new album.

The Dears’ last album was 2017’s Times Infinity Volume Two, which was the follow-up to 2015’s Times Infinity Volume One. Since those two albums frontman Murray A. Lightburn also released a new solo album, Hear Me Out, in 2019 via Dangerbird.

The Dears are as ever led by Lightburn on vocals and guitar and his wife Natalia Yanchak on vocals and piano. For Lovers Rock they were joined by longtime drummer Jeff “Looch” Luciani (who’s been with them since 2011’s Degeneration Street) and two musicians who performed on Lightburn’s last solo album, Steve Raegele (guitar) and Rémi-Jean LeBlanc (bass). Sam Roberts also has a cameo and there’s saxophone from both Alex Francoeur and The E Street Band’s Jake Clemons (on “Stille Lost”).

In a press release Lightburn says that Lovers Rock has much in common with No Cities Left, their 2003-released sophomore album that probably remains their most beloved record.

“There’s a direct line between the sort of doominess of No Cities Left and this album,” says Lightburn. “You could go straight from Lovers Rock to No Cities Left and it’s like they’re interlocked. But it’s a different kind of doom. Around 2001, it felt like, ‘We have no control. We don’t know what’s going to happen next.’ Now it’s a doom that’s within our grasp. It’s in the air. It’s between us. But we do nothing about it.”

Lightburn and The Dears have been prolific of late, what with the band releasing two back-to-back albums in 2015 and 2017, Lightburn releasing a solo album in 2019, and now a new Dears album coming a little over a year later.

“For us, the tank is never empty,” Lightburn explains. “For me it’s like an onslaught of ideas and sounds, and then I can’t keep up half the time. It’s a feverish process. Every record that we make, there’s a ton of songs.”

Lightburn and Yanchak are parents and Lightburn also admits in the press release that in this era where it’s harder for indie musicians to make a living, there’s a sense of urgency to their music making.

“The Dears aren’t fucking around,” he says. “We don’t have time to waste. We’ve got a job to do. And we’re going to do it. Twenty years ago, I knew I had a sound in my head, but I didn’t know how to get that down. Now I know how to get that sound.”

But for Lightburn it’s also very much about the art and connecting with listeners. “The question we’re asking in the music is, ‘how do we navigate so much bullshit in this world?’” he says. “We’re still playing this dumb rock music. But there’s always gonna be a little twist of the knife, cutting into something deep to make you feel like you’re alive. To say, ‘I know what you’re going through. And I’m hearing you, and I’m with you.’ That’s what the music is supposed to do.”

Under the Radar and The Dears go way back. We first discovered the band as they were preparing to release No Cities Left, which still remains one of our favorites and made the Top 20 in our Top 200 Albums of the Decade list in our Best of the Decade issue in 2009. We then put Lightburn on the cover of our print magazine in honor of The Dears’ 2006 album, Gang of Losers.

Lovers Rock Tracklist:

01. Heart of An Animal
02. I Know What You’re Thinking And It’s Awful
03. Instant Nightmare!
04. Is This What You Really Want?
05. The Worst In Us
06. Stille Lost
07. No Place On Earth
08. Play Dead
09. Too Many Wrongs
10. We’ll Go Into Hiding

The Dears Tour Dates:

04/09 - Athens, GR @ Temple
04/11 - Istanbul, TR @ Babylon
04/15 - Brussels, BE @ Le Botanqiue
04/16 - Bristol, UK @ Exchange
04/17 - Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute
04/18 - Glasgow, UK @ Drygate Brewing Co.
04/19 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
04/21 - London, UK @ The Garage
04/22 - Paris, FR @ La Boule Noire
04/24 - Rotterdam, NL @ Rotown Rotterdam
04/25 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
04/27 - Berlin, DE @ Privatclub
05/13 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
05/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
05/17 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
05/30 – Queretaro, MX @ Pulso GNP Festival
06/04 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
06/05 – Hamilton, ON @ Mills Hardware
06/06 – Kingston, ON @ Mansion
07/09 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade
07/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
07/11 – Washington DC @ DC9

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