Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever's new LP, Sideways to New Italy arrives on June 5th. It's their follow up to 2018s globally acclaimed, Hope Downs, which was every critics pick of the year, even some of ours.
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are lead by singer-songwriter-guitarists Tom Russo, Joe White and Fran Keaney, and the band are rounded out by bassist Joe Russo and drummer Marcel Tussie.
On the back of the success of Hope Downs, the band have toured pretty relentlessly, doing many of the big ticket price shows on the festival circuit. The pressure of their intense schedule is indelible.
"I felt completely rudderless on tour," Fran Keaney says. "It’s fun but you get to a point where you’re like, Who am I anymore? You feel like you’re everywhere and nowhere at the same time. And no one in particular." Tom Russo added, "We saw a lot of the world, which was such a privilege, but it was kind of like looking through the window at other people's lives, and then also reflecting on our own."
The new LP picks up where Hope Downs left off, a little rootsy Australicana and a smattering of more frenetic Go Betweens-y Robert Forster-y... Bye Bye Pride-y...
Our music editor, Jason Lewis, just messaged me from the lockdown to tell me he couldn't be more excited.
Sideways To New Italy is available from Sub Pop on June 5th.
