Kevin Morby shared the new single “Rock Bottom” and an accompanying video. The song appears on the singer-songwriter’s forthcoming studio album, This Is A Photograph.
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Kevin Morby Announces New Album ‘This Is A Photograph’ & Shares Single
Kevin Morby shared the title track to his new album, ‘This Is A Photograph,’ and confirmed tour dates in support of the release.
Morby will release This Is A Photograph through Dead Oceans on May 13. Produced by Sam Cohen, work on the follow-up to 2020’s Sundowner started at Cohen’s upstate New York studio with final sessions held at Memphis’ famed Sam Philip’s Recording Co.
“Rock Bottom” honors the late Jay Reatard. Cohen played bass on a track featuring backing vocals by Cassandra Jenkins and “laugh tracks” courtesy of Tim Heidecker and Alia Shawkat. Morby tapped his frequent Kansas City-based collaborator Johnny Eastlund to direct the “Rock Bottom” video.
Kevin Morby shared the below statement regarding the song:
“I’d often pass a mural of the late James Lee Lindsey Jr. on Main Street (in Memphis) which eventually lead me down a rabbit hole to revisiting his body of work including watching the 2009 documentary filmed during his last days, Better Than Something. I was taken by how similar his story was to that of many other American icons that were ahead of their time and too-quickly rose from the bottom to the top, inevitably burning out. I read that his stage name, Jay Reatard, was worn as a badge of honor after years of being picked on in grade school – which may or may not be why on the cover of his seminal album Blood Visions he’s covered in blood as a nod to Sissy Spacek’s character in Carrie. Because of this I chose to begin the song by repeating ‘they’re all gonna laugh at you!’ When in the studio I pointed at the last Reatard’s album, Grown Up, Fucked Up as a reference for what I was trying to achieve sonically.
For the video, director Johnny Eastlund and I decided we wanted to make an Ice Cream themed Nunchucking Western so I tagged in one of my instagram nunchuck idols Ariel Kellog to help me battle an evil talent show judge, played by Tim Heidecker, who is taunting his contestants, most notably a little girl in a bumble bee costume. The video also features comedian Caleb Heron, my bandmate Cyrus Gengras, Azniv Korkejian (aka Bedouine), Jess Wolfe (who is 1/2 of Lucius), and more.”
Watch Kevin Morby’s “Rock Bottom” video below:
Kevin Morby also heralded the launch of a new Substack. Morby will provide drawings, photos, poems, essays, demos and more content. The creative process that led to This Is A Photograph will be documented with as Kevin described, “all the puzzle pieces that go into eventually, somehow, magically creating an album of music that I don’t usually share with the public.” Weekly updates are expected. “As one who loves to share their experiences and creations with others while here on planet earth, I’m looking forward to having this newsletter to help do just that,” added Morby.
