The Pernice Brothers return with Who Will You Believe on April 5 via New West Records. The 12-song set is their first in five years and was produced by Joe Pernice. The album includes contributions from longtime bandmates, Bob Pernice, Peyton Pinkerton, Patrick Berkery, Laura Stein, Liam Jaeger, Michael McKenzie and Joshua Karp, lush string and horn arrangements, the Toronto-based choral group Choir! Choir! Choir!, as well as Neko Case on the duet “I Don’t Need That Anymore.” Who Will You Believe is the band’s first new album since marking their 25th anniversary by reissuing their acclaimed 1998 debut Overcome by Happiness as a deluxe edition last year.
Joe Pernice has crafted a remarkable catalog that boldly reinterprets and recasts classic American pop. Balancing moments of solemnity with warm humor and camaraderie, Who Will You Believe may be his most moving and nuanced album yet.
Today, the band shared the album’s title track across streaming platforms as well as the album highlight “December In Her Eyes,” exclusively via Bandcamp. Check out the title track below..
In a single six-month stretch in 2019 Pernice was left reeling from the deaths of two friends and a close family member. “That was such a bad stretch of time. When things settled some I was thinking about them a lot and doing my best to try and take nothing for granted.” Those tragedies inspired “The Purple Rain,” which concludes the album and ranks among his finest songs. In the chorus he sings: Remember me to her sea-bound train. Remember me to her fruited plains. Purple mountains and purple rain won’t always separate the shining seas. The wake is washing over me.
“It’s an homage to some friends and family I lost, but it’s also about the dread of potentially losing intangible things that I thought would always be there,” Pernice says.
Who Will You Believe will be available across digital platforms, compact disc, and standard black vinyl. A limited to 300 Turquoise Color Vinyl Edition autographed by Joe Pernice and including a blue flexi disc featuring an exclusive bonus track will be available via Rough Trade. A limited cassette edition of the album will be available exclusively via Bandcamp. A limited Clear Vinyl edition and compact disc edition both autographed by Joe Pernice will be available at Independent Retailers and is available for pre-order NOW via NEW WEST RECORDS.
Pernice Brothers Who Will You Believe Track Listing:
1. Who Will You Believe
2. Look Alive
3. Not This Pig
4. What We Had
5. December in Her Eyes
6. A Song for Sir Robert Helpmann
7. Hey, Guitar
8. A Man of Means
9. I Don’t Need That Anymore (feat. Neko Case)
10. Ordinary Goldmine
11. How Will We Sleep
12. The Purple Rain
Joe Pernice Live:
February 7 – Nashville, TN – The 5 Spot (Early Show w/ John P. Strohm supporting)
April 3 – New York City – Le Poisson Rouge
