It hasn’t been too long since Cass McCombs last released an album — his most recent record, Mangy Love, came out in 2016. But McCombs is not the kind of songwriter who rests on his laurels, and today he announced a new album, Tip Of The Sphere. The record will come out in early 2019, February 8, and become his ninth full-length release, and marks his second release for Anti- records after spending the bulk of his career releasing music with Domino Records.
Along with the announcement of the album, McCombs shared a new song off the record called “Sleeping Volcanoes.” It’s a song that spins out with the meditative grace and quiet hypnotism that has long marked his songwriting, managing to reference Armageddon, Babylon, and the beat going on and on all while holding together a cohesive thread. McCombs describes the conceit of the song as “people passing each other on the sidewalk unaware of the emotional volatility they are brushing past, like a sleeping volcano that could erupt at any moment.”
For this album, McCombs recorded the entire thing at Shahzad Ismaily’s Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn, a rare set-up for him, as he is generally known for being very transient in the recording process. Listen to the new song above and check out the tracklist and his newly announced tour dates below.
Tip Of The Sphere tracklist:
1. “I Followed The River South To What”
2. “The Great Pixley Train Robbery”
3. “Estrella”
4. “Absentee”
5. “Real Life”
6. “Sleeping Volcanoes”
7. “Sidewalk Bop After Suicide”
8. “Prayer For Another Day”
9. “American Canyon Sutra”
10. “Tying Up Loose Ends”
11. “Rounder”
2018 Tour Dates:
11/09 — Weissenhäuser Strand, DE @ Rolling Stone Weekender
11/10 — Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who Festival
11/11 — Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who Festival
11/12 — London, UK @ Hoxton Hall – SOLD OUT
11/14 — Leffinge, BE @ De Zwerver
2019
11/16 — Rust, DE @ Rolling Stone Park
03/04 — Washington, DC @ Union Stage
03/05 — Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
03/07 — Brooklyn, NY @ Murrmr
03/08 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
03/09 — Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
03/15 — Indianapolis, IN @ HiFi
03/16 — Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
03/18 — St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
03/20 — Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
03/23 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The State Room
03/26 — Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
03/27 — Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater
03/30 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
04/05 — San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
