Kevin Morby will release a new album entitled Oh My God on April 26 through Dead Oceans. The forthcoming double LP features the lead single, “No Halo.”
Morby’s fifth solo album was inspired in part by his 2015 single “Beautiful Strangers” which contained the lyrics “oh my god.” Recorded at producer Sam Cohen’s Brooklyn studio, the resulting 14-track Oh My God became a secular, religious-themed concept album. Morby stated the following about the album:
Religion is around all of us. It’s a universal language and there is profound beauty in it. I’ve found it a useful tool within songwriting, as it’s something everyone can relate to on some level. There are religious themes or imagery in a lot of what I’ve done, so I wanted to get all of that out and speak only that language for a whole record. It’s not a born-again thing; it’s more that ‘oh my god’ is such a profound statement we all use multiple times a day and means so many different things. It’s not about an actual god but a perceived one, and it’s an outsider’s view of the human experience in terms of religion …
This one feels full circle, my most realized record yet. It’s a cohesive piece; all the songs fit under the umbrella of this religious theme. I was able to write and record the album I wanted to make. It’s one of those marks of a life: this is why I slept on floors for seven years. I’ve now gotten the keys to my own little kingdom, and I’m devoting so much of my life to music that I just want to keep it interesting. At the end of the day, the only thing I don’t want is to be bored. If someone wants to get in my face about writing a non-religious religious record? Thank god. That’s all I gotta say.
Morby will tour North America and Europe this spring and summer in support of Oh My God. He will be joined by current bandmates drummer Nick Kinsey and bassist Cyrus Gengras along with Cohen on guitar, Jared Samuel on keyboards, Cochemea Gastelum (of The Dap-Kings) on saxophone and Alecia Chakour (of Tedeschi Trucks Band) and Lauren Balthrop on vocals.
Directed by Chris Good, watch the video for “No Halo” below:
Oh My God Tracklist
- Oh My God
- No Halo
- Nothing Sacred / All Things Wild
- OMG Rock n Roll
- Seven Devils
- Hail Mary
- Piss River
- Savannah
- Storm (Beneath The Weather)
- Congratulations
- I Want To Be Clean
- Sing A Glad Song
- Ballad Of Faye
- O Behold
