Carson McHone heads 'Downhill'
Carson McHone
Shares self-directed video for new single 'Downhill'
New Album ‘Pentimento’ out 12th September on Merge
European tour starts at the weekend
“Pentimento sees McHone fearlessly blending diverse influences – from guitar rock to pastoral folk, poetry, and field recordings – into a rich tapestry of sound.” - KLOF Mag Today, Carson McHone returns with “Downhill,” a propulsive tune that falls into a push and pull across time signatures, and the latest single from her forthcoming album Pentimento, out September 12 on Merge Records. A back and forth between distorted electric guitars and faraway harmonies recall early Velvet Underground and Television, complete with tasty, understated drums and idiosyncratic, boss bass choices. The song is accompanied by a McHone-directed video featuring the young son of poets Layla Benitez-James and Ian Farnes, at play by the beach where they live in Barcelona, Spain.
"Pentimento is a quiet conjuring, shuttling one through memory much like pentimento itself,” Benitez-James says. Watching her son in the video, she notes how DNA, too, calls up shadowy traces across generations, and the many layers of meaning assigned through lineage. “We gave our son my grandmother’s middle name, Lee, which means the sheltered side of something, a safe place. I see the knocks on his legs, remembering my first scars, and wanting to catch him always.” Early in life we find pathways, create habits, methods of learning. Complex decisions often have their origins in our first attempts. Learning to ride a bike, tie our shoes, how to love, these patterns often stay with us, even those from the very beginning. “Maybe all of the best work has its beginnings in childhood,” Farnes suggests, “it’s part of the fabric that makes us. There are layers behind layers in Pentimento, and it makes me feel more deeply the more I listen, revealing the layers also within me."
Carson McHone’s European tour with Daniel Romano’s Outfit kicks off this week:
Jul 18 Deventer, NL – Burgerweeshuis*
Jul 19 Rotterdam, NL – Rotown*
Jul 20 Venlo, NL – Grenswerk
Jul 24 Ermelo, NL – In De Rimboe
Jul 30 Barcelona, ES – Upload*
Aug 01 Madrid, ES – El Sol*
Aug 02 Valencia, ES – Loco Club*
Aug 07 Göteborg, SE – Way Out West
Aug 08 Fredrikstad, NO – Tæps
Aug 12 Uppsala, SE – Katalin
Aug 13 Östersund, SE – Jazzköket
Aug 14 Trondheim, NO – Moskus
Aug 15 Ringebu, NO – Arnemoen Gard
Aug 16 Lidköping, SE – Bustad Brewing
Aug 17 Lund, SE – Merjeriet*
Aug 19 Drammen, NO – Kulturhus
Aug 20 Bergen, NO – Statraden
Aug 22 Vangen, NO – Haugesund Festival
Aug 23 Stockholm, SE – Stockholm Roots
Sep 12 St. Catherines, ON – In the Soil Arts Festival (Pentimento Performance & Listening Party)
*supporting Daniel Romano’s Outfit
Tracklist 1.Winter Breaking 2.Abstract Spring 3.Downhill 4.Vision in the Verse 5.In the Summer the Streets Burned 6.Idiom 7.Fruits of My Tending 8.Forbidden Kiss 9.The Canvas 10.Lucentum 11.Wake You Well 12.Triumph of the Heart 13.September So
