Never one to rest upon his laurels, Ezra Furman is back with a new album – Twelve Nudes, out via Bella Union on August 30th, barely 18 months since his critically acclaimed Transangelic Exodus dropped. From the new record, Ezra has released a video for single ‘Calm Down’, and announced a whole raft of live dates.
Of the album, Ezra says “This is our punk record,” says Ezra Furman. “We made it in Oakland, quickly. We drank and smoked. Then we made the loud parts louder. I hurt my voice screaming. This was back in 2018, when things were bad in the world. The songs are naked with nothing to hide.”
That is certainly the case with Calm Down, which from his bakred vocal to the fuzzy riffs ooze punk. As with everything Furman related though, it’s got this sense of melody which is just impossible not to fall for (shouted or not) as it features Rolling Stones like backing vocals as this glorious chorus envelops you.
Commenting on the song, “Desperate times make for desperate songs” says Furman. “I wrote this in the summer of 2018, a terrible time. It’s the sound of me struggling to admit that I’m not okay with the current state of human civilization, in which bad men crush us into submission. Once you admit how bad it feels to live in a broken society, you can start to resist it, and imagine a better one.”
Check out the brilliant Beth Jeans Houghton directed animated video, here
Wed. May 29 – Norwich, UK @ Waterfront
Thu. May 30 – Sheffield, UK @ Foundry
Sun. June 2 – London, UK @ All Points East Festival
Sun. July 21 – Benicassim, ES @ Benicassim Festival
Tue. July 23 – Cork, IE @ Cyprus Avenue
Wed. July 24 – Dublin, IE @ Button Factory
Thu. July 25 – Galway, IE @ Galway Festival
Sun. July 28 – Topcliffe, UK @ Deer Shed Festival
Thu. Sept. 5 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Sat. Sept. 7 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
Sun. Sept. 8 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
Mon. Sept. 9 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
Tue. Sept. 10 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz P.D.B.
Wed. Sept. 11 – Cambridge, MA @ Sonia
Thu. Sept. 12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
Sun. Sept. 15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Mon. Sept. 16 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage
Sat. Nov. 16 – Cologne, DE @ Luxor
Sun. Nov. 17 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Tue. Nov. 19 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
Fri. Nov. 20 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique / Rotonde
Sat. Nov. 21 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Noord
Mon. Nov. 23 – Hamburg, DE @ Molotow
Tue. Nov. 24 – Copenhagen, DK @ Vega
Wed. Nov. 25 – Gothenburg, SE @ Pustervik
Thu. Nov. 26 – Stockholm, SE @ Debaser Strand
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