Photo Credit: Clifford Usher
Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn have announced their second collaborative project, Quiet in a World Full of Noise. Set to release Oct. 4 via Merge, the record honors a shared commitment to experimentalism across mediums and genres, boasting features from Bryan Senti, CJ Camerieri and the Budapest Film Orchestra. To preview the genre-defying endeavor, the duo has shared the record’s lead single, “Breath Out.”
Rather than an intentional follow-up to 2022’s Pigments, the combo’s latest instead erupted as the culmination of the musicians’ rawest emotional states. Zahn sent Richard a set of ethereal, “stream-of-consciousness” compositions six months after taping them. Upon hearing these recordings, Richard added the accompanying lyrics and music–or rather, they poured out of her. “I did not write this down,” the vocalist explains. “I purged it out, and then I didn’t change anything after it.”
“Breath Out” manifests the project’s defining sense of emotional release in both lyrics and arrangement: “Time to let go now / You can breathe out,” Richard sings, before closing the track with one final reminder before the equally haunting piano refrain fades: “You made it out.”
Accompanying their album announcement, Richard and Zahn also revealed a set of upcoming tour dates, which begin with three solo performances from Dawn Richard on July 11, 12 and 15 in England. Following a performance at Carrboro, N.C.’s Merge 35 Festival on July 27, their North American tour kicks off on Oct. 22 at Minneapolis’ Dakota. After two more evenings in Milwaukee and Chicago, Richard and Zahn are set to head to the Northeast for a series of shows, with stops in Pittsburgh, Toronto, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Boston. The musicians will close out the year with an appearance at the London Jazz Festival on Nov. 16.
Reflecting on intentions for Quiet, Richard wishes for the record to inspire listeners to harness and honor their deepest emotions, just as it did for her in its creation: “I hope that this will be the record that people put on when they need the opportunity for reflection, when they need the stillness in their lives, now more than ever.”
Fans can listen to “Breath Out” now and pre-order Quiet in a World Full of Noise here. Read on for the album’s complete tracklist and a list of upcoming tour dates.
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn – Quiet in a World Full of Noise
1. Stains
2. Quiet in a World Full of Noise
3. Traditions
4. Diets
5. Stay
6. Life in Numbers
7. Moments for Stillness
8. The Dancer
9. Breath Out
10. To Remove
11. Ocean Past
12. Try
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn 2024 Tour Dates:
July 11 – Colours – London, England*
July 12 – Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Festival – Birmingham, England*
July 15 – Somerset House – London, England*
July 27 – Merge 35 Festival – Carrboro, N.C.
Oct. 22 – Dakota – Minneapolis
Oct. 23 – Turner Hall Ballroom – Milwaukee
Oct. 24 – Old Town School of Folk Music – Chicago
Oct. 26 – The Andy Warhol Museum – Pittsburgh, Pa.
Oct. 27 – Lula Lounge – Toronto, Ontario
Oct. 29 – National Sawdust – Brooklyn, N.Y.
Oct. 30 – National Sawdust – Brooklyn, N.Y.
Nov. 2 – First Unitarian Church – Philadelphia
Nov. 3 – Institute of Contemporary Art – Boston
Nov 16 – London Jazz Festival – London, England
Notes:
* Dawn Richard Solo Performance