Leon Bridges grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, which sits about 260 miles northwest of Houston, the home of genre-spanning instrumental group Khruangbin. Now, Bridges and Khruangbin have decided to team up and pay homage to their home on an upcoming EP, Texas Sun, which is set for release on February 6, 2020. Along with the announcement, they have shared the title track, a midtempo, country-inspired, Neil Young-like rocker.
The seed for this project was planted when Bridges and Khruangbin embarked on a joint North American tour in 2018. Later, a Khruangbin recording session yielded a song that the band thought would be well served by vocal contributions from Bridges. They sent the track over the Bridges, and the very next day, he sent the song back with new vocals. Bridges and the band then convened in the studio, planning on recording the song as a B-side. The chemistry between the two entities was so strong, though, that they were compelled to make more than just one song together, which led to Texas Sun.
Khruangbin bassist Laura Lee says of the record, “We try not to have too much of an intention, because it gets in the way of what the music wants to do. If you just let the music do what it’s supposed to do, it will reveal itself. We tried to take that same approach with Leon. For us, it was opening up our world to have another person in it. But all of it feels like Texas to me.”
This is Bridges’ second collaboration in recent days, as he was also one of the guests featured on The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show.
Listen to “Texas Sun” above, and find the Texas Sun art and tracklist below.
1. “Texas Sun”
2. “Midnight”
3. “C-Side”
4. “Conversion”
Texas Sun is out 02/07/2020 via Dead Oceans/Columbia Records/Night Time Stories Ltd. Pre-order it here.
