Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang are at it again!

Empty Cellar is proud to announce the latest single by Bonnie “Prince” Billy and The Cairo Gang, “We Love Our Hole” b/w “I’ll be Alright”. This latest product of their fruitful collaboration finds Will Oldham and Emmett Kelly sitting barefoot on a sand dune, plucking the last rays of an Australian sunset from the sky. These two songs were recorded for “SPIRIT OF AKASHA”, a film/soundtrack celebrating 40 years of the classic 1971 Australian surf film “Morning of the Earth.”

“We Love Our Hole”, a warm and fuzzular take on the notorious Aussie localism, recalls the carefree back to earth acoustic jams on the original “Morning of the Earth” soundtrack. Twangy leads punctuate the bongo-driven tune (music by Kelly / lyrics by Oldham) exalting their hole… the kind of place you discover by following your bliss, “a cove where love is free”. Unbridled, the duo’s dueling voices find rare, compelling, moments of unison amidst rich harmonizing. The B-side, “I’ll be Alright”, is a stripped-down take of the Terry Hannagan song from the original soundtrack. Equally melancholy and reassuring, Hannagan’s meditation on the drag of modern life is dispensed thoughtfully by Oldham in his fearless, self-assured, voice. The recording as a whole finds Oldham and Kelly stepping confidently across the beach, fully trusting each other in these songs as only seasoned brothers can.

This 7” vinyl record comes packaged in a high-gloss photographic jacket featuring a golden still by “SPIRIT OF AKASHA” filmmaker Andrew Kidman. Limited to a single pressing of 1000 copies, this release is a perfect assurance that summer is coming through the clouds, and its music positively sparkles like a sun-lit sea. Bonus points: Each 7” comes with a special fart-cloud sticker drawn by the great Nathaniel Russell that you can place in the wind of your favorite Surfer pic! Get yours HERE!

Cut from the cloth of early Soft Machine and Kevin Ayers-isms, garagearray by Dylan Shearer is a lofty, loopy flight in a candy floss-clouded sky, with an ever-present darkness just below the surface. It’s wonderfully off the cuff, in moments reminiscent of a Syd Barrett session where the band must’ve just closed their eyes and felt it out in the dark. Coming together in all the right moments, sometimes absolute in its nick-of-timeness. Dylan Shearer is joined on this LP by Petey Dammit on bass (Thee Oh Sees) and Noel von Harmonson on drums (Comets On Fire). Produced by Eric Bauer (Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin…etc) this session maintains a lighter than life vibration, like a breeze weaving through a tree far overhead. The production smacks with that lost in time quality of a BBC session piloted by a natural on the knobs genius. Although I don’t know Dylan Shearer all that well, he has a sort of shy quality that seems to fall away when singing these songs live. Sometimes singing is much heavier in truth than speaking small talk, I guess. It’s really quite lovely and full of sad and poetic moments and we are VERY proud here at Empty Cellar to be co-releasing this with Castle Face Records, with whom we’re making two special and limited handprinted jacket + colored vinyl editions, featuring artwork by Dylan’s childhood friend Michael Sean Coleman. Get a copy while they last HERE!

Listen to track “meadow mines (fort polio)” on NPR

Listen to track “mold in the fold” on Brooklyn Vegan

Read some thoughtful interviews with Dylan Shearer about his writing process on Impose and The Bay Bridged (with Logan of The Dodos)!

Praise for Dylan Shearer:

“Dylan Shearer makes psych-pop, that rare combination of drugged-out bliss and crystal clear melody that evokes The Beach Boys on acid, or The Free Design on ketamine. Not to say that Shearer invokes the more sinister edges of the drug-addled, oh no, this is psychedelia that wraps you up in a Fall sweater of guitar and woodwinds. This is psych and pop mixed in the most classic of ways, the tenuous edges of free-form psych brought together under the deceptively superficial happiness of best sort of pop.”
— Side One Track One

“Shearer’s vocals have the same eccentric bohemian aristocracy of Kevin Ayers circa Joy Of A Toy, alongside touches of melancholy Nick Drake-isms and some classic, dislocated Syd Barrett/Madcap Laughs style confusion. The songs are great, memorable acoustic constructs that conjure all sorts of phantom hooks from out of the air. Highly Recommended”
— David Keenan

Truly one of my favorite songwriters working today. If a more sullen Ray Davies sounds up your alley, get excited.”
— Chocolate Bobka

Comparisons to Syd Barrett are apt, but the nostalgic and tender domesticity of songs like “meadow mines (fort polio),” from his upcoming record garagearray bring to mind Ray Davies, with whom Shearer shares a prenatural talent for finding pathos in the homey.
— adhoc.fm

Pillars and Tongues find peace in change – constantly in motion and thoughtfully redirecting their sonic trajectory. Even songs that have been recorded and released are not safe from their restless deconstructionist tendencies. In this spirit we are pleased to present the reworked “Palms To Tell.” Now entitled “(Laid) Palms To Tell,” this re-envisioning of The Pass and Crossings standout track showcases the mercurial nature of their songwriting. Though it is most definitely the same song, the new instrumentation brings to light new interpretations and provokes new emotions. Alongside the reworked track is a new music video (their second video from The Pass and Crossings – watch the first one here) directed by Alex Babbit. Babbit has created a seriously beautiful and nostalgic pairing for the new arrangement, which No Fear of Pop described as, “gorgeously colorful and aptly arcane.”

As a companion to the new video and a preview for their tour, Pillars and Tongues has also released a free three-song digital single also titled (Laid) Palms to Tell.  The new single includes the reworked track along with two others, all previously unreleased. The single is available for download at the their bandcamp.

Pillars and Tongues are embarking on a five-week tour that will take them across the states. More dates are being added as we write this, so check here for the most up-to-date tour listings.

TOUR DATES:

05/28 North Manchester, IN – The Firehouse
05/29 Indianapolis, IN – Mediumship w/ Thee Open Sex + Church of the Infinite Space Ritual
05/30 Louisville, KY – Zanzabar w/ Man Forever + New Mother Nature
05/31 Knoxville, TN – The Pilot Light w/ North America
06/02 New Orleans, LA – The Allways Lounge w/ Picnic + Julie Odell
06/03 Austin, TX – Church of the Friendly Ghost @ The Salvage Vanguard Theater
06/04 Austin, TX – Skinny’s Ballroom
06/06 Marfa, TX – El Cosmico
06/08 Santa Fe, NM – High Mayhem w/ Extremadura (ft. Jeremy Barnes) + Black Iron Trio
06/09 Albuquerque, NM – Gold House w/ Drake Hardin + Young Lungs
06/10 Taos, NM – Taos Ale House w/ A Hawk and a Hacksaw + Art of Flying
06/14 Sedona, AZ – Chocola Tree
06/15 Flagstaff, AZ – Cottage House
06/23 Sacramento, CA – Animal House
06/24 Nevada City, CA – Haven Underground w/ Requa Cambium, Exquisite Corps, The Still Sea
06/25 Chico, CA – Cafe Coda
06/27 Portland, OR – The Purple Church w/ Sun Angle + And and and

In case you missed our first post about this tour, we would like to remind all of our East Coast friends that Mark and Beth from Pillars and Tongues are now officially on tour with Elephant Micah, who we love. Check here for dates. …and pick up the Pillars and Tongues record, “Lay of Pilgrim Park” at our store.