Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile are bringing continents together to form their own super group, and they’re releasing an album.
The result of eight days in the studio, over a period of almost 15 months, the record will be released later this year by Matador Records, Marathon Artists and Milk! Records.
“In 2014 I scored a support slot opening for Kurt at the Abbotsford Convent [outside Melbourne],” reveals Courtney. “We met briefly after the show but I was a bit nervous and didn’t wanna bother him, just grateful for the gig. Years later we started bumping into each other on the festival circuit all around the wide world and we became friends. He hit me up when he was coming to Melbourne next and said he thought we could work together.”
Kurt continues, “I just love her voice in general… great lyrics of course… I love all her music but the song that really hit me was ‘Depreston’ — I know it’s popular but her voice is so good in that song and it’s so pretty and sincere… I’m a sucker for that kinda song: instant classic. It started out as, maybe we’ll do a split 7″ together but then I figured let’s make it a 12″ so it doesn’t get lost in the world, shoot for five songs. It wasn’t until I had another KV tour booked for the following summer in Oz that we thought we should record as much as we can, just see what happens, no major goal to make it a full length, but it came together that way ’cause the vibe was so strong with everyone.”
They’re heading off on a tour with an all star backing band, going under the name the Sea Lice. They’ll feature Sleater-Kinney’s Janett Weiss, Stella Mozgawa from Warpaint, former Sky Larkin vocalist and occasional live member of all your fave bands Katie Larkin and Rob Laakso of The Violators and The Swirlies.
Yep, those are definitely some names.
There’s no firm release date or title for the record yet, but you can check out those tour dates below.
OCTOBER
11 San Diego House of Blues
14 Los Angeles Cathedral
15 Los Angeles Orpheum
18 Oakland Fox Theatre
20 Portland Arlene Schnitzer
21 Seattle The Moore
22 Seattle Showbox
25 St. Paul Palace Theatre
26 Chicago Rockefeller Chapel
27 Chicago Thalia Hall
28 Chicago Empty Bottle
30 Detroit Royal Oak Theatre
31 Toronto Massey Hall
NOVEMBER
1 New York Beacon Theatre
3 Philadelphia Tower Theatre
4 Boston Orpheum
9 Nashville The Ryman
10 Dallas McFarlin Memorial
11 Austin Moody Theatre