Los Angeles-based Wand has announced the release of Plum, out September 22nd via Drag City Records, as well as lead single, “Plum,” and its accompanying video, and a tour that embarks on the heels of the album’s release. Plum is Wand’s fourth LP since the band formed in late 2013, but their first new album since 2015. After a whirlwind first two years of writing, recording, and touring, their newest document focuses teeming, dense, at times wildly multichromatic sounds into Wand’s most deliberate statement to date, with a long evening’s shadow of loss and longing hovering above the proceedings.
In late winter of 2016, the band — Cory Hanson (guitar, vocals), Lee Landey (bass) and Evan Burrows (drums) — expanded their core membership to include two new members — Robbie Cody (guitar) and Sofia Arreguin (keyboards, vocals). The change in lineup naturally led to a shift in working method. The songwriting process was relocated to the practice space, where for several months on and off the band improvised, while recording and archiving as much as they could manage. And while previously Wand songs had often been brought to the group substantially formed by Hanson, now seedling songs were harvested from a growing cloudbank of improvised material, then fleshed out and negotiated collectively. This new process demanded more honest communication, more vulnerability, better boundaries, more mercy and persistence during a year that meanwhile delivered a heaping serving of romantic, familial and political heartbreak for everyone involved. The resulting Plum delicately locates the band’s tangent of escape from the comfortable shallows of genre anachronism.
Watch the video for “Plum” below. As Hanson describes it, “The song transpires between our collective harmony and individual dissent. It felt like we were each trying to obstruct a clear path in order to discover new space. As a total accident, ‘Plum’ wound up being a miniature blueprint to the musical language we developed together over months of dedicated writing.”
Plum Tracklisting:
1. Setting
2. Plum
3. Bee Karma
4. Charles De Gaulle
5. High Rise
6. White Cat
7. The Trap
8. Ginger
9. Blue Cloud
10. Driving
Wand Tour Dates:
Sat. Sep. 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour #
Sun. Sep. 24 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah #
Mon. Sep. 25 – Las Vegas, NV @ Bunkhouse #
Wed. Sep. 27 – Denver, CO @ Lost Lake #
Thu. Sep. 28 – Lincoln, ME @ Lincoln Calling
Fri. Sep. 29 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club #
Sat. Sep. 30 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall #
Mon. Oct. 2 – Toronto, ON @ Baby G #
Tue. Oct. 3 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz #
Wed. Oct. 4 – Cambridge, MA @ Cambridge Elks Lodge #
Fri. Oct. 6 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom #
Sat. Oct. 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ Everybody Hits #
Sun. Oct. 8 – Washington, DC @ DC9 #
Tue. Oct. 10 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings #
Wed. Oct. 11 – Atlanta, GA @ 529 #
Thu. Oct. 12 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa #
Fri. Oct. 13 – Austin, TX @ Barracuda #
Sat. Oct. 14 – Dallas, TX @ Dada #
Sun. Oct. 15 – Norman, OK @ The Opolis #
Wed. Oct. 18 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Bar #
Thu. Oct. 19 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux #
Sat. Oct. 21 – Vancouver, BC @ The Cobalt #
Sun. Oct. 22 – Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project #
Tue. Oct. 24 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel #
Tue. Jan. 23 – Brighton, UK @ Patterns
Wed. Jan. 24 – London, UK @ Dome
Thu. Jan. 25 – Bristol, UK @ Louisiana
Fri. Jan. 26 – Manchester, UK @ Soup Kitchen
Sat. Jan. 27 – Glasgow, UK @ Garage 2
Sun. Jan. 28 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell (main room)
Mon. Jan. 29 – Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds (room 2)
# = with Darto
