Yonder Mountain String Band have dropped the title track and official music video for their impending full-length release, Nowhere Next, due out on Friday, November 8, via Thirty Tigers. While the studio recording clocks in at four and a half minutes, providing a tight delivery of the flexible composition, the band was keen to keep the flow open, allowing the track to expand on the live stage as a 30-plus-minute vehicle for experimentation.
The official music video presents the band’s acoustic, groove-laden performance, carried by bassist Ben Kaufmann’s fast-moving fingers. At the same time, fellow bandmates Nick Piccininni and Adam Aijala harmoniously intertwine the song’s lines, working toward the crux of “Nowhere Next”: “Whistle and the world will be what you want and what you see/ You can always click ‘agree’ don’t have to take it from me.”
“The reason the song exists is because of the bass ‘said no one ever’ in the world of bluegrass,” jokes guitarist Aijala. “We’re a bluegrass band with acoustic instruments playing a song that isn’t bluegrass at all but, I suppose that’s typical for us.”
The forthcoming album reflects the band’s intimate understanding of instrumentation and harmony, a burgeoning feature that ignites the band’s turnover of nine new originals. Included are staples from the group’s early live shows, never tracked in the studio until now: “Didn’t Go Wrong” and “River.” According to Yonder Mountain’s official press release, members Dave Johnston, Kaufmann, and Piccininni serve as principal songwriters.
Moreover, Nowhere Next represents a new chapter in the ensemble’s sound with the arrival of newcomer/ fiddler Coleman Smith. Smith adds his string-plucked technique to eight of the nine tracks on the album, fortifying the evolutionary style of Yonder Mountain’s sound three decades into their history.
Pre-order Nowhere Next. Scroll down to watch the title track music video.
Nowhere Next Track List:
1. The Truth Fits
2. Crusin’
3. Here I Go
4. Didn’t Go Wrong
5. Nowhere Next
6. Leave The Midwest
7. Secondhand Smoke
8. Come See Me
9. Outlaw
10. Wasting Time
11. River