Sylvan Esso have announced that their new album Ow ∞ will arrive on September 11 via Psychic Hotline, marking the band’s first release on their own label. On the follow-up to 2022’s No Rules Sandy, Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn are joined by Daniel Aged, BJ Burton, Matt Douglas, Glenn Kotche, Jake Luppen, TJ Maiani, James Mapley-Brittle, Buddy Ross, Jenn Wasner, and Joe Westerlund. Lead single “Concrete Glen” is out today and features a sample of “Svefn-g-englar” by Sigur Rós.
“One of my favorite ways of producing in general is to come up with an idea and then take out a third of it,” Meath shared. “One, it makes things interesting and exciting, but also it makes your ear ask a question. And it kind of forces the listener to be creative as well. To try to fill that space with something, which I find as a listener to be really exciting and interesting. Particularly with pop music, because it’s all about fulfilling a promise. You know this melodic structure, you know, we’re going to the four here. Not doing it is always the thing that makes people fall in love with a song or a person.
“Living hurts forever, and then it stops,” she continued. “But also it’s a little silly. And that’s how I feel. If you’re going to keep participating in the world, and in your life, you have to commit to being hurt. And if you aren’t putting yourself in the way of potential hurt, you miss out on a lot of potential opportunities. So in some ways it’s like a rallying cry, saying ‘I'm gonna get hurt forever, and that's OK.’”
Check out the video for “Concrete Glen” below, and pre-order Ow ∞ here.
