Ahead of the January 18 release of their sophomore album on Fat Possum, Dye it Blonde, The Smith Westerns have thrown us a bone in the form of the first single, “Weekend.”
Fresh out of high school, the band skipped beach week and instead recorded Dye it Blonde with Chris Coady, who's worked with !!!, Beach House, and T.V. on the Radio. “Weekend” starts with a lip curling, T-Rex guitar hook but the overall tone is less leather pants and more diffident yearning, as the lyrics imply: “Weekends are only fun / when you're around.” Polished, but not obnoxiously so.
If you can't catch them on their quasi-world tour, check out the video shot by Ryan McGinley. It's a B&W beaut shot at last year's Pitchfork festival. A little bit like When We Were Kings, but without Norman Mailer blabbering about Don King's hair.
Smith Westerns – Weekend by forcefieldpr
“Friends Forever” (A Short by Ryan McGinley)
Smith Westerns Fall Tour
November
03 Wed, Toronto, Ontario – Sound Academy #
05 Fri, Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
12 Fri, Milwaukee, WI – Club Garibaldi
20 Sat, London, England – Luminaire
21 Sun, London, England – Brixton Windmill
22 Mon, Paris, France – FMR *
23 Tue, Landshut, Germany – Wintergarden
24 Wed, Frankfurt, Germany – Sinkkasten
26 Fri, Amsterdam, Netherlands – Trouw
27 Sat, Cologne, Germany – King Georg
29 Mon, Dusseldorf, Germany – Stahlwerk ^
30 Tue, Hamburg, Germany – Docks ^
December
01 Wed, Gothenburg, Sweden – Eriksberg
02 Thu, Oslo, Norway – Sentrum Scene ^
03 Fri, Stockholm, Sweden – Berns ^
04 Sat, Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega ^
06 Mon, Berlin, Germany – Columbiahalle ^
07 Tue, Munich, Germany – Tonhalle ^
08 Wed, Vienna, Austria – Gasometer ^
10 Fri, Prague, Czech Republic – Archa Theatre ^
11 Sat, Bologna, Italy – Covo
12 Sun, Milan, Italy – Alcatraz ^
13 Mon, Zurich, Switzerland – Maag Hall ^
14 Tue, Lyon, France – Le Transbordeur ^
15 Wed, Bordeaux, France – Saint EX
16 Thu, Barcelona, Spain – Razzmatazz ^
17 Fri, Madrid, Spain – La Riviera ^
18 Sat, Lisbon, Portugal – Campo Pequeno ^
# with Florence & the Machine
* with Wavves
^ with MGMT
