Sylvan Esso have shared details of their fourth studio album, ‘No Rules Sandy’.
In addition to the album announcement, the duo have released new song ‘Didn’t Care’, which traces the emotional journey from a humble meeting to life-changing love.
The band made an appearance at the Newport Folk Festival yesterday (July 24) where they debuted the new album by performing it in its entirety.
Speaking of the new record, vocalist Amelia Meath said that it “feels like who we actually are. It just feels like us. We’re not trying to fit into the mould, just happily being our freak selves”.
“Our whole career up until now, I feel like everything’s been really considered, and we’ve maybe overthought a lot of the music,” Nick Sanborn added. “I think that might be the ultimate effect of like the last record and the pandemic – feeling like, fuck that, I know what I want. And it’s now, or never. So let’s get out there and do it.”
No Rules Sandy is released on August 12 via Loma Vista Recordings (pre-order here).
The album follows their 2020 release ‘Free Love’, which was the band’s first album in three years. In a three-star review NME described the album as a collection of “lean, intimate compositions”.
The pair describe their first three albums as a trilogy, with album four marking a new era for the project. Produced and written by Sylvan Esso, with additional recording taking place at their own studio in North Carolina, the album includes drummer TJ Maiani, a string arrangement from Gabriel Kahane, and saxophone by Sam Gendel.
Last year, the duo launched their own new label, which they named Psychic Hotline. With its announcement also came news that the duo would be releasing a series of singles, both digitally and as seven-inch vinyl records.
The first of these was collaboration between Meath and songwriter/producer Blake Mills. An original, ‘Neon Blue’, is the single’s A-side; a cover of the same song performed by jazz musician Sam Gendel is its B-Side.
In a statement Meath and Sanborn explained that Psychic Hotline was created in order for the duo to helm “the type of record company we had dreamed of”.
“We do not seek to own intellectual property under any circumstance, nor do we subscribe to scarcity-based career approaches,” they said. “We strive to ever-expand our musical community; to welcome more voices and more perspectives. We believe that the only common denominator in great music is honesty in expression.”
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