Brooklyn – Manchester Orchestra today debuted their new video for “The Grocery” off their acclaimed new album A Black Mile To The Surface out now on Loma Vista Recordings. The video, directed by Johnny Chew, brings to life framed family photos throughout various generations. Chew explains, ”I based the idea for the video on the concept of a family’s pain and struggles being passed down through generations. Every family has a weird history they try to ignore or overcome. Rather than focusing on a concrete narrative, I wanted a more loose, visceral experience as if we have just stumbled across these family heirlooms and are trying to make sense of them ourselves, with only hints and suggestions to what was truly going on.”
Manchester Orchestra kicked off a massive headlining U.S. tour this week, with a show tonight at the House of Blues in Houston, TX and upcoming dates at The Novo in Los Angeles on September 14th and at Terminal 5 in New York City on September 29th. U.K. and European dates will follow later this fall. A current itinerary is below; tickets are on-sale now HERE.
“The Grocery” follows the sweetly surreal video for “The Sunshine” — the first music video written and directed by directing duo The Daniels in three years – and The Daniels’ collaboration with director Mike Dempsey on “The Alien” video, which premiered on NPR Music. Serving as creative directors for all the artwork and videos of A Black Mile To The Surface, The Daniels’ creative partnership between the band first began around the film-like music video for Manchester Orchestra’s “Simple Math” in 2011 (Vimeo’s Music Video of the Year) and lead to singer/guitarist Andy Hull and co-writer/multi-instrumentalist Robert McDowell’s acclaimed score for the directors’ 2016 feature film debut and Sundance hit Swiss Army Man (which broke the top 10 in iTunes Soundtracks chart).
A Black Mile To The Surface debuted at #2 on iTunes’ Albums chart upon release and has been earning the band critical acclaim, with rave reviews coming in from Pitchfork, Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine Vulture, Uproxx, Alternative Press, Kerrang, and more. Leading up to the release, Manchester Orchestra played two sold-out intimate performances at NYC’s Mercury Lounge and LA’s Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and performed singles “The Gold” and “The Alien” on CBS This Morning: Saturday Sessions, with a web-exclusive bonus performance of “The Parts.”
Always a band to push themselves creatively with each subsequent release, Manchester Orchestra has expanded their dynamic sound to peak form on the cinematic and epic A Black Mile To The Surface. The album — featuring production by Catherine Marks (Foals, PJ Harvey, The Killers), John Congleton (St. Vincent, Explosions In The Sky, Angel Olsen), and their longtime studio partner Dan Hannon — showcases a band that rethought, deconstructed, and rebuilt their songwriting process to propel their music into a new emotional arena, drawing on Hull and McDowell’s unique experience scoring Swiss Army Man. Throughout recording the album, the band opened up their collaborative process and pushed themselves to go against their first instincts at every turn.
A Black Mile To The Surface is a bold record of vision and purpose, inspired by and dwelling in a sensory and imaginative experience. It’s a reinvention of sorts — both musically and personally — and an evolution of the band, while also retaining the sweeping, melodic, and anthemic sounds for which Manchester Orchestra has become known.
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Manchester Orchestra U.S. Tour:
09/08 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues
09/09 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s
09/10 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
09/12 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
09/13 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
09/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Novo
09/15 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
09/16 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
09/18 – Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
09-19 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
09/21 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
09/22 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
09/23 – Kansas City, MO @ The Crossroads
09/24 – Chicago, IL @ Concord Music Hall
09/26 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
09/27 – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore
09/29 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5
09/30 – Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
10/01 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
10/03 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore
10/04 – Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
10/05 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
10/06 – Columbia, SC @ The Music Farm
10/07 – Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle
10/21 – Manchester, England @ Academy 2
10/22 – Glasgow, Scotland @ The Garage
10/23 – Leeds, England @ The Church
10/24 – Birmingham, England @ O2 Institute
10/26 – London, England @ Shepherd’s Bush Empire
10/27 – Brighton, England @ Concorde 2
10/28 – Bristol, England @ SWX
10/30 – Cologne, Germany @ Gebaude 9
10/31 – Paris, France @ Les Etoiles
11/01 – Brussels, Belgium @ VK
11/02 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
11/03 – Berlin, Germany @ Franz
11/04 – Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow
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