The Dears new album – Times Infinity Volume Two – Released Today
The Dears today release their new album Times Infinity Times Volume Two, out now through Dangerbird Records. The album is the concluding part of a two-album project, with the critically praised Volume One released in February 2017 in the UK. Following a string of sold-out headline shows here earlier this month (the band’s first UK tour dates since 2011), The Dears will return for a 10 date tour later this year, including a London Oslo show on October 7 2017.
Volume Two sees the completion of a body of work which founding members Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak recorded over a two year period between Toronto’s Revolution Recording and Montréal’s Thee Mighty Hotel2Tango. Speaking about the process, Lightburn says of the final mix sessions for Volume Two: “At the hotel2tango, it had been a 20 hour day. I worked deliriously towards finishing Volume Two. In part it was because I knew precisely how it was all supposed to fit together but mostly because there was another band’s session coming within just hours. It really recalled those overnight mixing sessions for No Cities Left, complete with a fresh-faced Howard (studio co-owner Bilerman) arriving in the morning, coffee in hand, asking, ‘how did it go?’ I still don’t really know. But I did my best.” Both Lightburn and Yanchak identify Volume Two – a record driven by an unmistakeable sense of unease – as the comparatively darker component of the Times Infinity series.
The Dears have majored in bristling honesty throughout their 25 year-strong career, and Volume Two is no less candid, with the microscope turned on Lightburn and Yanchak themselves. Propelled by driving bass-lines, fractious early single ‘Of Fisticuffs’ doubles down on the propulsive agitation of Times Infinity’s first instalment, typifying the universal, everyday tightrope of choosing which battles to fight. For Lightburn and Yanchak – married with a young family of their own – a sense of protecting what’s important runs deep through Volume Two, though rendered with disarming tenderness.
The Dears emerged out of the early Noughties Canadian indie renaissance, cementing their orchestral-pop- noir sound with celebrated debut album End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story, in 2000. In 2001 and 2002, they released the EPs Orchestral Pop Noir Romantic and Protest, as well as a collection of unreleased songs, Nor the Dahlias. In 2003 they released their second full-length album No Cities Left, and a string of highly anticipated shows at SxSW ’04 launched their international career. Gang of Losers was released in 2006, was well received by the press, and was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. A tumultuous transitory period followed. The Dears emerged, stolid, with another meticulously crafted classic, Missiles in 2008, and later 2011’s Degeneration Street.
LIVE
July 14 – Roy Thomson Hall Patio – Toronto, ON FREE
July 26 – Foro IndieRocks – Mexico City, MX http://thedears.boletia.com/
July 27 – Alhóndiga de Granaditas for GIFF – Guanajuato, MX FREE
Sept 15 – La Tuplie performing No Cities Left for Pop Montreal – Montreal, QC http://bit.ly/mtl-ncl
Sept 16 – Le Cercle – Quebec City, QC http://bit.ly/dears-qc-2017
UK October Headline Tour
5 October OXFORD Academy 2 http://bit.ly/dears-oxford
6 October BRIGHTON The Haunt http://bit.ly/dears-brighton
7 October LONDON Oslo http://bit.ly/dears-london
9 October PORTSMOUTH Wedgewood Rooms http://bit.ly/dears-portsmouth
10 October MANCHESTER Deaf Institute http://bit.ly/dears-manchester
11 October NEWCASTLE Academy 2 http://bit.ly/dears-newcastle
12 October GLASGOW King Tuts http://bit.ly/dears-glasgow
13 October LIVERPOOL Academy 2 http://bit.ly/dears-liverpool
15 October DUBLIN The Grand Social http://bit.ly/dears-dublin
16 October BELFAST Empire Music Hall http://bit.ly/dears-belfast
Nov 1 – Rough Trade – Brooklyn, NY http://bit.ly/dears-bklyn-2017
Nov 2 – Great Scott – Boston, MA http://bit.ly/dears-boston-2017
Nov 3 – DC 9 – Washington, DC http://bit.ly/dears-dc-2017
Nov 4 – Boot & Saddle – Philadelphia, PA http://bit.ly/dears-philly-2017
Nov 8 – Rum Runners – London, ON http://bit.ly/dears-london-2017
Nov 9 – Great Hall – Toronto, ON http://bit.ly/dears-to-2017
Nov 10 – Maxwell’s – Waterloo, ON http://bit.ly/dears-waterloo-2017
Nov 11 – Mansion – Kingston, ON http://bit.ly/dears-kingston-2017
Nov 16 – Mill’s Hardware – Hamilton, ON http://bit.ly/dears-hamont-2017
Nov 17 – The Rondo – Windsor, ON http://bit.ly/dears-windsor-2017
Nov 18 – The Warehouse – St. Catharine’s, ON http://bit.ly/dears-nia-2017
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