Photo credit: Fawn DeViney
Later this summer, Blind Pilot will make their long-awaited return with In The Shadow Of The Holy Mountain, the Oregon indie-folk favorites’ first new release since 2016’s And Then Like Lions. Set to release August 16 via ATO Records, Blind Pilot’s latest arrives as the culmination of a long creative, spiritual and geographic journey for vocalist and songwriter Israel Nebeker, who took years of searching to find his next project within himself. To accompany the announcement of its reemergence, the band has shared the preview single “Just A Bird,” an upbeat, sentimental and knowing first taste of the album to come.
“I was struggling with a lot of fear surrounding expectations of who I was supposed to be,” Nebeker confides in a release. “I’d lost my path with music.” To rediscover his passion, Nebeker found his way to Scandinavia to uncover his family’s roots in the nomadic Sámi community; from atop a mountain, a drum circle brought to him a vision of his ancestors–a profound spiritual experience that set the record into process.
Nebeker found the subject to alight him while immersing himself in a migrant-serving humanitarian group in Mexico City with Blind Pilot co-founder Ryan Dobrowski. “I got the idea to write a song that looks at ideas of ownership and othering, and what it does when we tell people, ‘This is our home, not yours,’” the artist shares on the first seed of his fourth studio album. One month later, after years of stagnation, the entirety of In The Shadow Of The Holy Mountain had flowed from his pen to paper.
To record the new offering, Nebeker, Dobrowski, Luke Ydstie and Kati Claborn ventured to a renovated church in upstate New York. With production from Bonny Light Horseman’s Josh Kaufman–renowned for work with The Hold Steady, Bob Weir, The National, Taylor Swift and more–the band embraced a new improvisatory chemistry grounded in “listening to each other and trusting our instincts.” “We’re still feeling that deep connection that’s been a throughline for our entire adult lives,” the songwriter adds; reunited at last, the group experienced “the most joy we’d ever had in making an album together.”
Fans can pre-order In The Shadow Of The Holy Mountain here and listen to “Just A Bird” here. Read on for a tracklist and full list of upcoming Blind Pilot tour dates.
In The Shadow Of The Holy Mountain Tracklist
1. Jacaranda
2. Brave
3. Pocket Knife
4. Don’t You Know
5. Just A Bird
6. Coming Back
7. Faces of Light
8. One Drop
9. Lucky
10. Bitter Water
11. Same Thing
Upcoming Blind Pilot Tour Dates
June 16 – Fry Family Farm – Medford, Ore.
June 18 – The Venice West – Los Angeles
June 20 – Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery – Los Angeles
June 21 – Ojai Deer Lodge – Ojai, Calif.
June 22 – Felton Music Hall – Felton, Calif.
June 23 – The Grove House – Mariposa, Calif.
June 25 – The Big Room at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co – Chico, Calif.
June 26 – WOW Hall – Eugene, Ore.
July 13 – The Sultan Room – New York
July 14 – United Theatre – Westerly, R.I.
July 15 – Iron Horse Music Hall – Northampton, Ma.
July 16 – The Atlantis – Washington
July 19 – Maurer Hall at Old Town School of Folk – Chicago
July 20 – Vivarium – Milwaukee
July 21 – Off Broadway – St. Louis
July 23 – The Raccoon Motel – Davenport, Iowa
July 24 – HI-FI Indy – Indianapolis
July 26 – Grog Shop – Cleveland Heights, Ohio
August 11 – Remlinger Farms – Carnation, Wash.
August 12 – Biltmore Cabaret – Vancouver, British Columbia
August 15 – Churchill School – Baker City, Ore.
August 16 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, Ore.
August 17 – Trout Lake Hall – Trout Lake, Wash.
August 31 – The Gorge Amphitheater – George, Wash.*
November 8 – The Domino Room – Bend, Ore.
November 9 – Harlow’s – Sacramento, Calif.
November 12 – The Fillmore – San Francisco
November 15 – Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles
November 16 – Lobero Theatre – Santa Barbara, Calif.
November 17 – Belly Up Solana Beach – Solana Beach, Calif.
November 19 – Hotel Congress – Tucson, Az.
November 20 – Meow Wolf – Santa Fe, N.M.
November 21 – Gothic Theatre – Englewood, Colo.
November 22 – Washington’s Foco – Fort Collins, Colo.
November 24 – The Commonwealth Room – South Salt Lake City, Utah.
November 26 – The Bing Crosby Theater – Spokane, Wash.
November 29 – Liberty Theatre – Astoria, Ore.
* with Dave Matthews Band
The post Listen: Blind Pilot Preview Fourth Studio Album ‘In The Shadow Of The Holy Mountain’ with “Just A Bird” appeared first on Relix Media.
