After more than a decade, The Autumn Defense are set to return with “Here and Nowhere”, their long-anticipated sixth studio album, slated for an October 10th release on Yep Roc Records. Their first album since 2014’s “Fifth“, this one picks up exactly where the band left off, infusing their breezy, harmony-drenched take on Laurel Canyon with lush orchestration and psychedelic flourishes. “It wasn’t intentional,” says Sansone. “We thought we’d take a short break from recording, but between our work with Wilco, other personal projects, and the disruption of the pandemic, ten years went by in the blink of an eye.”
The first single, ‘The Ones,’ a track built on emotional contradictions with a gentle, easygoing feel that belies unsettled lyrics, is out now. Of the song, Pat Sansone offers: “It’s a meditation on impermanence, and wrestling with the loss of people and things that have been meaningful in a life. Musically, the song takes inspiration from some songs that were popular on the radio in my childhood, in which I now recognize a certain eeriness or disquiet. I thought this musical backdrop fit well with the theme of the fading of a familiar world.”
Recorded in two free-flowing sessions at Nashville’s Creative Workshop, the album is produced and mixed by Pat Sasone and finds the band contemplating the passage of time, reckoning with what we lose, what we gain, and who we become along the way. The band was founded by John Stirratt (Wilco, Uncle Tupelo) and Pat Sansone (Wilco) and features longtime rhythm section James Haggerty (bass) and Greg Wieczorek (drums). They first emerged with 2001’s “The Green Hour” and have maintained the same core lineup for almost 20 years. While often categorised as a Wilco side project, the band’s sound has always been decidedly more West Coast than alt-country.
Tracklist below, and the album can be preordered here.
The Autumn Defense “Here and Nowhere” Tracklist:
1. The Ones
2. I’ll Take You Out Of Your Mind
3. Old Hearts
4. Winter Shore
5. In The Beginning
6. Hearts Arrive
7. Underneath The Rollers
8. More Than I Can Say
9. Love Lives
10. Raven Of The Wood
11. Ever Flowing Light
