Television guitarist/vocalist Tom Verlaine will simultaneously release two new albums this spring. “Around,” a 16-track set in the vein of the 1992 instrumental album “Warm and Cool,” and “Songs and Other Things,” Verlaine’s first “vocal” release since 1990’s “The Wonder,” will arrive in late April via Thrill Jockey.
“Around” features drumming Television’s Billy Ficca on several tracks, highlighted by the beautiful, late-night instrumental “Eighty Eights,” the strutting, nearly honky-tonk “Wheel Broke” and guitar-only exercises like “Mountain.” Elsewhere, bass-aided cuts like “Balcony” wouldn’t sound out of place on an album from Verlaine’s new Thrill Jockey labelmate Tortoise.
As for the 14-song “Songs and Other Things,” it finds Verlaine dabbling on bass in tandem with Television’s Fred Smith. Among the notable tracks here are the genial “From Her Fingers,” the snaking guitar lines of “The Day on You” and the confident rock of “All Weirded Out,” which bears the unmistakable lineage of vintage Television.
Verlaine is planning to debut a live band in New York in late April or early May in advance of his first world tour in more than 10 years. As for Television, Verlaine told Billboard.com last year the group had “about seven [new songs] nearly ready to record” but added, “I have no idea who for — what label, that is.”
Source billboard.com.
