The Felice Brothers have announced a new album ‘Valley of Abandoned Songs’, which will be released on 27thJune on Conor Oberst’s new record label, Million Stars. The album resulted from a process of going through their archives. Ian Felice explains “A few years ago, I started revisiting old demos that had never seen the light of day and recordings that hadn’t found a home on previous albums, and I started thinking of them as the Valley of Abandoned Songs. At a certain point, I realised that I had a particular group of tunes that worked really well as an album”. The majority of the songs come from sessions for the band’s albums ‘Undress’ (2019) and ‘Asylum On The Hill’ (2023).
Oberst and The Felice Brothers are long-term collaborators and he is a big fan: “I first encountered the Felice Brothers in 2007 after being given some of their music by a friend. I liked it a lot, but there was something I couldn’t put my finger on—singular and mysterious. An iconoclastic version of what some lazy people call ‘Americana’.” He adds: “Needless to say, I love this band, and when I am asked that horrible question, ‘Who is your favourite band?’ I always answer The Felice Brothers.”
Oberst previously released two of the band’s records on his Team Love label: ‘’The Felice Brothers’ (2008) and ‘Yonder Is The Clock’ (2009). Their last album ‘Asylum On The Hill’ was an online only release and the same was planned for ‘Valley Of Abandoned Songs’. Oberst: “When Ian sent me this new collection of songs and told me they just planned to put it up on the internet, I kind of flipped out, because they were so goddamn good. And then I did something I swore I would never do again: I started a new record label. This is my third. It is called Million Stars, and I am so proud to say the new Felice Brothers album is our first release. I can’t quit them. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.”
You can pre-order the album here and in the meantime The Felice Brothers will be touring the UK and Europe in the Autumn with dates announced so far as listed below – links for tickets for these upcoming shows can be found here. The band has released a first single from the album ‘Crime Scene Queen’, a track recorded on the final day of their sessions for ‘Asylum On The Hill’. Watch that below.
Felice Brothers UK Dates 2024:
29 October Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
30 October Manchester, Band On The Wall
1 November Sligo Live, Sligo
2 November Dublin, The Button Factory
4 November Glasgow, St Luke’s
5 November Birmingham, The Hare & Hounds
6 November Cardiff, The Globe
7 November London, Electric Ballroom
9 November Bristol, Strange Brew
10 November Brighton, Chalk
12 November Amsterdam, Paradiso Noord
13 November Cologne, Luxor
15 November Berlin, Kulturhaus Peter Edel
