The opening song on The Barr Brothers’ new album Queens of the Breakers (October 13/Secret City Records) starts with a drum pattern that mimics the sound of two heartbeats out of sync. It was written by Andrew Barr while holding the hand of a loved one in the hospital, where he heard two EKG machines beating slowly in and out of time with each other, occasionally aligning, but destined to dither. The album that follows represents a similar kind of human dynamic. It’s The Barr Brothers’ finest work yet, a collection of 11 hypnotically fluid songs that speak to the raw, elemental power of reflection, forgiveness, loss, and growing up. The record finds the band, featuring brothers Brad (guitar) and Andrew Barr (drums), and Sarah Page (Harp), further on their thrilling path of exploring the outer limits of folk, blues, rock and Americana made north of the American border.
Listen to the new track “You Would Have to Lose Your Mind” here:
The new album arrives after the longest-ever pause in Brad and Andrew Barr’s 20-year career in music. Both became fathers since 2014’s ‘Sleeping Operator’ was released. In that time, Sarah found ways to completely redefine the harp, its sound, and its role in modern music. ‘Queens of the Breakers’ was born out of reflection of what home and family mean now, after the effects of life on the road. The title track references the brother’s teenage adventures in Rhode Island – which found them and a tight-knit pack of friends descending upon the city of Newport and the famous industrialist mansion known as The Breakers wearing their mothers’ clothing, provoking the tourists. It’s a look at evaporated friendships through the rearview mirror.
The Barr Brothers are at their most devastating in their balance of subtlety and grand gestures, immediate on the surface, the finer details lying deep in the arrangements. ‘Defibrillation (feat. Lucius)’ is just that, an off-kilter rhythm with a mesmerizing folk song woven into it. One of the album’s many highlights is ‘You Would Have to Lose Your Mind,’ a sinewy song that grows over 6 minutes of a brooding bass line, neo-soul melodies, woozy strings, and ping ponging harp that bends and sustains like a synthesizer. The thundering ‘It Came to Me’ begins with a howl of electric guitar and a burst of propulsive drums. A guitar riff, harp and tambourine quickly lock together into an undulating wall of sound.
Queens of the Breakers was engineered by Ryan Freeland (Milk Carton Kids, Ray LaMontagne, Bonnie Raitt) and Marcus Paquin (Arcade Fire, The National). It was recorded in Montreal and St. Zenon, Quebec.
Pre-order and Pre-Save the album here: http://thebarrbrothers.com
‘Queens of The Breakers’ track list
Defibrillation (feat. Lucius)
Look Before It Changes
Song That I Heard
Maybe Someday
Kompromat
You Would Have to Lose Your Mind
Queens of the Breakers
It Came to Me
Hideous Glorious
Hideous Glorious Part 2
Ready for War
Tour Dates:
September 22 – Utopia TX @ UtopiaFest
November 3 – Weissenhaeuser Strand DE @ Rolling Stone Festival
November 4 – Groningen NL @ Take Root Festival
November 6 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
November 8 – Zurich, CH @ Bogen F
November 9 – Paris, FR @ Le Pop Up du Label
November 10 – Cologne, DE @ Studio 672
November 12 – Berlin, DE @ Privatclub
November 14 – London, UK @ Union Chapel
November 15 – Winchester, UK @ The Railway
November 16 – Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute
November 20 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
November 23 – Quebec, QC @ Imperial
November 24 – Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
November 28 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
November 29 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
December 1 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
December 2 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
December 3 – Washington, DC @ Sixth and I Historic Synagogue
December 5 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theater
December 6 – Pontiac, MI @ The Pike Room
December 7 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
December 8 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
December 12 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
December 13 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
December 15 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
December 16 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
December 17 – Vancouver, BC @ Imperial
