Following a couple of joyous evenings at the O’Meara earlier this year, your correspondent is delighted to share the news that the boys are back with a new album, “Let It Hiss”, which comes out on October 17th via Secret City Records. Indeed, the title track was released as a single last month, but this month sees the release of the second track from the album, ‘Run Right Into It’, a propulsive ode to the power of change that features the vocal talents of fellow Montrealer Elizabeth Powell (Land Of Talk). Listen to it below.
As a taster of the album, the single buzzes with a kinetic energy and perhaps a spirit of renewal. The band say it is inspired by the tight counterpoint harmonies and vocal chemistry of groups like The Raveonettes and the chorus sees Brad Barr joined by Elizabeth Powell to exclaim: “I don’t know why I was running that day / maybe I was afraid of feeling that way” before bursting into the resolution: “and I’m on the run / ever since I was young / ever since I did say / I don’t wanna be that way”.
Speaking about track, Brad and Andrew Barr comment: “The song is the musical equivalent of a ‘74 Camaro in a high-speed police chase barrelling towards the Great Wall of China. It’s the release that comes after smashing into the thing we’re running away from, or towards, and finding the expansive open road beyond.”
The album was produced by Brad and Andrew, working primarily as a duo out of their Montreal studio with mix engineer Jon Low (The National, Taylor Swift, Bon Iver), and has been eight years in the making, though that should not suggest a period of inactivity for the brothers. Andrew has spent time playing drums for Feist, Mumford and Sons, and Broken Social Scene. Brad has explored a wide array of collaborations and released a meditative solo album in 2022. The Barr Brothers’ touring has included dates with My Morning Jacket and The War On Drugs.
Since 2017’s “Queens of the Breakers”, life has pulled the brothers in new directions both professionally and personally. It altered their creative process, a deep-rooted approach that they believed required triage. “In 2022, we found ourselves at a breaking point,” says Brad Barr, the band’s guitarist, vocalist, and primary songwriter. “It was clear something had to change. The real story of this record is the story of that change and everything that came after.”
“This new album is what happened when we stopped pretending everything was fine and finally listened to what was actually going on,” says Andrew, the band’s drummer, percussionist, and vocalist. “It just felt right to leave the hiss in. The discomfort, the imperfection, the struggle. We stopped trying to clean it all up. That’s when the music started to breathe again.”
The album art was, again, created by artist Brigitte Henry, Brad’s wife, who also designed the covers for their albums “Queens of the Breakers” and “Sleeping Operator”. The Barr Brothers will embark on their first major headlining tour since 2019 later this year, which will kick off on November 4th and includes Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on November 8th, and concludes in their hometown of Montreal on November 29th. Stay tuned for news of UK shows in 2026.
Tracklist below, and the album can be preordered here.
“Let It Hiss” Tracklist:
1. Take it From Me
2. Let it Hiss
3. English Harbour
4. Run Right Into It
5. Moonbeam
6. She Doesn’t Sleep with the Covers On
7. Naturally
8. Owning Up to Everyone
9. Another Tangerine
10. Upsetter
