Julie Byrne is gearing up to share her first album in six years, The Greater Wings. To celebrate the announcement, the singer-songwriter has shared the record’s lead single “Summer Glass” as well as a run of 2023 tour dates.
Byrne made The Grater Wings with a small crew of close collaborators across Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. On the record, her folksy fingerpicked guitar is bolstered by synthesizer, harp, strings, and Byrne’s latest instrument, the piano. Thematically, the album meditates on stages of grief, but bittersweetly underscored by the power of resilience in its wake.
“My hope for The Greater Wings is that it lives as a love letter to my chosen family and as an expression of the depth of my commitment to our shared future,” Byrne says in a press release. “Being reshaped by grief also has me more aware of what death does not take from me. I commit that to heart, to words, to sound. Music is not bound to any kind of linear time, so in the capacity to record and speak to the future: this is what it felt like to me, when we were simultaneous, alive, occurring all at once. What it has felt like to go up against my edge and push, the love that has made it worth all this fight. These memories are my values, they belong with me.”
“Summer Glass” is a mesmerizing ballad that appears to ponder the circle of life: “One day the skin that holds me will be dust/ And I’ll be ready to travel again,” Byrne sings. In lieu of any drums, the track is tethered by a scintillating synth ostinato that calls to mind the humbling, curious feeling of stargazing on a clear night.
Byrne’s tour will take her across the UK, Europe, and the US, including a show at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom. Tickets will be available at Byrne’s website; after they go on sale, you can also find them at StubHub, where orders are 100% guaranteed through StubHub’s FanProtect program. StubHub is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.
Watch the music video for “Summer Glass” below, and then keep scrolling to see the details for The Greater Wings as well as Byrne’s tour dates.
Byrne’s last album was 2017’s Not Even Happiness, which Consequence named one of the top 50 albums of that year.
The Greater Wings Artwork:
The Greater Wings Tracklist:
01. The Greater Wings
02. Portrait of a Clear Day
03. Moonless
04. Summer Glass
05. Summer’s End
06. Lightning Comes Up From the Ground
07. Flare
08. Conversation is a Flowstate
09. Hope’s Return
10. Death Is the Diamond
Julie Byrne 2023 Tour Dates:
07/23 – Hebden, UK @ Bridge Trades Club
07/26 – London, UK @ Kings Place Hall
07/28 – Brighton, UK @ St Barts
08/18-20 – Brecon Beacons, Wales @ Green Man Festival
09/5 – Seattle,WA @ Fremont Abbey
09/6 – Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
09/8 – San Francisco, CA @ Swedish American Hall
09/9 – Felton, CA @ Felton Music Hall
09/12 – Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever
09/14 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s
09/19 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
09/20 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church (Sanctuary)
09/21 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
09/29 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre
09/30 – Somerville, MA @ Crystal Ballroom
11/16 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
11/17 – Glasgow, UK @ Mono
11/18 – Manchester, UK @ St Michael’s Church
11/22 – Bristol, UK @ The Jam Jar
11/24 – Limerick, IE @ Dolans Upstairs
11/25 – Dublin, IE @ Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire
11/26 – Belfast, IE @ The Black Box