Last month, Kurt Vile released his first new single since 2015, “Loading Zones,” and now he’s giving the people what they want by wheeling out a new album. Bottle It In, due out on October. 12th via Matador Records, It will be Vile’s first LP since 2015’s b’lieve i’m goin down…., and the Philly singer-songwriter has shared another new song alongside today’s announcement, the gorgeous, nine-plus-minute epic “Bassackwards.”
Vile recorded “Bassackwards” with engineer and producer Shawn Everett at The Beer Hole in Los Angeles, and his Bottle It In bio describes the track as “the album’s beating heart and Vile’s most compelling evocation of how he sees the world.” Vile is of two minds—and sometimes none at all—on the song, singing, “I was on the beach but / I was thinking about the bay / got to the bay but by then I was far away,” over dreamy backmasked guitars and gentle acoustic strums. The polarized instrumentation fits perfectly with the song’s refusal to settle on one direction ”Bassackwards” moves two ways at once, leaving us wondering which way is true North, or if there even is one.
Listen to “Bassackwards” below
The Fat Angel Sings 