The Low Anthem kicks their tour at the Sixth and I Synagogue in Washington, DC, tonight. NPR's All Songs Considered will be broadcasting the concert live online at npr.org. The Associated Press calls their new album, Smart Flesh, "stunningly memorable ... Decidedly eclectic, the Low Anthem use simple chords, haunting sounds and unusual instrumentation to create something sincere and beautiful." On this week's New York Times Popcast, Times writer David Carr says: "You don't hear singing like that every other day. It's very, very impressive."

The Low Anthem, whose latest album, Smart Flesh, was released yesterday on Nonesuch, launches a brief winter tour in Washington, DC, tomorrow night. NPR's All Songs Considered will be there, broadcasting the concert live online. The band will be back in the States this spring, for support slots with Iron & Wine and a slew of newly-confirmed headlining dates, including a special show at the pasta sauce factory in Rhode Island where they recorded most of the new album. Watch the video for the album track "Boeing 737," shot at the factory, here.

Today marks the release of The Low Anthem's new album, Smart Flesh. Rolling Stone gives the album four stars, saying: "It's as if the Band stripped their prairie-gothic majesty down to Tom Waits' early barfly essentials." The Los Angeles Times calls it "a gorgeous, inventively arranged set of reverb-rich roots ballads." Paste sums it up as "soft-spoken stories that’ll stop you in your tracks." The Providence Journal calls it "a stunning, incandescent gem of a recording." The Daily Telegraph gives the album four stars: "These exquisitely voiced musings on love, healing and mortality really hit the spot." Uncut says, "It's all stunningly beautiful."

The Low Anthem and their forthcoming album, Smart Flesh, are the subject of a feature article in the New York Times, which looks at the abandoned pasta sauce factory in which it was recorded as "one of the instruments" on the album. "There is nothing idiosyncratic about what underlies their appeal," says the Times. "The songs are sticky and gorgeous, often because of Mr. Miller’s fungible, memorable voice." The Washington Post looks at the band's shared interest in "thinking outside the musical box." The Guardian says the factory's "effect is as bewitching as it is chilling." The Independent gives the album four stars and says the band's "textural palette is broader than ever on Smart Flesh."

The Low Anthem is the subject of the cover story in the Providence Phoenix, which looks at their new album, Smart Flesh, and, the heady year that preceded it. "The subject matter on the new disc revolves around life’s inevitable end," says the Phoenix, "delivered with such poise and poignancy that it’s easily the band’s most impressive album." KCRW calls it "their best album yet ... With ghostly echoes of such luminous predecessors as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and the country side of the Rolling Stones, The Low Anthem has raised the bar for practitioners of the high-lonesome side of indie folk sounds in the new decade."

The 2011 Bonnaroo festival lineup has been announced, and among the performers at this year's gathering will be The Black Keys, The Low Anthem, Wanda Jackson, and Jessica Lea Mayfield. The festival will take place June 9 through 12 in Manchester, Tennessee; tickets go on sale this Saturday, February 19, at 12 EST.

The Low Anthem's new album, Smart Flesh, is due out next week, on February 22. Until then, you can listen to the album streaming in its entirety as an NPR First Listen on npr.org. The band makes records "worth discovering slowly and embracing with loving care," says NPR's Stephen Thompson. Smart Flesh "showcases a band that's never been on surer footing," he says. "Alternately rustic and relevant, these songs sound haunted in every possible way ... beautiful through and through." Clash Music says: "this is the human condition set to music."

The Low Anthem's new album, Smart Flesh, is due out in just two weeks, on February 22. The album, the majority of which was recorded in a cavernous, vacant pasta sauce factory, touches on such themes as love and longing and, in one particular song, changing political winds. On that note, and to mark the centennial of Ronald Reagan's birth, the song—the evocatively titled "Hey, All You Hippies!"—is now streaming on the band's website. To hear how the two are linked, listen to the song at lowanthem.com. The Low Anthem begins its US tour in Washington, DC, on February 24.

The Low Anthem's latest album, Smart Flesh, is due out in just a few weeks, on February 22, and is available for pre-order. The band was recently in Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, where they performed at the ASCAP Music Café. You can watch a performance video from Sundance here, interspersed with a conversation with the band about their affinity for playing multiple instruments, their dynamic range, and the collaborative nature of the band. 

The Low Anthem is in Los Angeles to perform at The Wiltern with Iron and Wine tonight. The bands will be together again this spring when they launch a two-week tour in April. Before that, The Low Anthem will embark on a headlining tour in support of its forthcoming Nonesuch release, Smart Flesh, due out February 22. Salt Lake magazine listed the band's sets at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this week among the week's musical highlights.

The lineup for the 2011 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (a.k.a. Jazz Fest) has just been announced, and, as always, there's much to look forward to when the festivities get under way this spring. Jazz Fest will be held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans the weekends of April 29–May 1 and May 5–8. Among this year's performers are The Low Anthem, Punch Brothers, hometown favorites Allen Toussaint and Nicholas Payton, and Wilco.

After sharing a bill at The Wiltern in Los Angeles next week, The Low Anthem will join Iron and Wine on the road for two weeks in April. Before that, The Low Anthem will embark on a headlining tour in support of its forthcoming Nonesuch release, Smart Flesh, due out February 22, including a performance at New York City's Bowery Ballroom on March 8. The album is available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with a limited-edition poster signed by the band.