Curling will release their brand new studio album No Guitar this Friday, August 11. The band’s cross-continental founders Bernie Gelman (Bay Area) and Jojo Brandel (Japan) earned acclaim spanning Guitar World, Northern Transmissions, Ghettoblaster Magazine, and Atwood Magazine for early album cuts “Hi-Elixir” and “Patience”. Indie rock vocal harmonies play over a luxurious composition of skittering percussion and intricate guitar on final single “URDoM” released today. Written by Jojo, the breezy song’s secretly sarcastic title comes from something a coworker in Japan jokingly yelled at him publicly in the office after messing up with a client. “Do M” in Japan means to be a masochist, or someone who enjoys pain.
No Guitar is a record of musical complications that sound effortless, cloaking the heavy thematic undertones such as isolation, romantic heartbreak and the loss of a loved one. The lush and intricate songs cover a myriad of stylistic ground, from power-pop’s punchy bittersweetness and rustling indie-folk to the openhearted intricacy of Midwestern emo. Gelman and Brandel are joined for the first time by drummer Kynwyn Sterling, whose percussive prowess strengthens the band’s sound more than ever before. Their summer tour kicks off this Friday, August 11 in Portland, OR and includes support dates Nation Of Language in Portland and Vancouver.
No Guitars’ tangle of electronics gestures towards the future’s perpetual uncertainties while also pointing towards an exciting new future.
North American Tour Dates
^ = w/ Nation of Language
8/11: Portland, OR @ Fixin’ To
8/12: Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall ^
8/13: Portland, OR @ Gloomhouse
8/14: Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theater ^
8/16: Grass Valley, CA @ Unchuch
8/17: Upland, CA @ Hyrule Temple
8/18: Oakland, CA @ Oakland Secret
8/19: Seattle, WA @ Central Saloon
8/20: Centralia, WA @ Space Place House
