Photo Credit: David Black
In mid-January, Khruangbin announced its intent to deliver a new album, A La Sala, or “To the Room” in Spanish, their first in four years. As a preview of the impending project, the musical trio has shared “May Ninth,” intended to illustrate the contemplative and jubilant presentation of the set, due on April 5 via Dead Oceans in partnership with Night Time Stories Ltd.
A La Sala urges listeners to rely on the notion of self in the outside world while questioning how humanity models experience across 12 tracks. Today’s album preview, “May Ninth,” presents fluttering vocals that add to the layered presentation, featuring propulsive guitar and bass interplay.
According to the band’s official press release, “A La Sala’s 12 songs were jigsaw pieces found in Khruangbin’s creative past, parts of the band not lost, but not yet tapped into. Having stockpiled ideas originally set down as off-the-cuff recordings (voice memos made at sound-checks, on long voyages, as absentminded epiphanies), they began fitting those pieces together in the studio for A La Sala.”
In addition to the initial singles, “May Ninth” and “A Love International,” other songs increasingly see the band enter an ambient space, with beatless “Farolim de Felgueiras” and “Caja de la Sala” featuring Marko’s guitar duet with Laura Lee’s Moog. Closing out the forthcoming album is “Les Petits Gris,” which includes piano, a simple single-note bass pattern, and a plaintive spare guitar meant to mimic a music box.
Apart from today’s music drop, the band has also tacked on additional tour dates to their North American excursion, including a second night at Alex Madonna Expo Center in San Luis Obispo, Calif., on April 19, a third night to their stand at The Met in Philadelphia, slated for May 21. A new Greek Theatre date and a third evening at Red Rocks on Aug. 26 have been pasted to the schedule. The final fresh date extends the band’s stay at The Anthem in Washington, D.C.
Purchase Relix’s July/August 2020 issue featuring Khruangbin. Pre-order A La Sala now.
Listen and watch “May Ninth” below.
A LA SALA TRACKLIST:
- Fifteen Fifty-Three
- May Ninth
- Ada Jean
- Farolim de Felgueiras
- Pon Pón
- Todavía Viva
- Juegos y Nubes
- Hold Me Up (Thank You)
- Caja de la Sala
- Three From Two
- A Love International
- Les Petits Gris