Dark Matter, Randy Newman's first album of new material in nine years, is due next Friday, August 4, with the vinyl due August 18. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full below as an NPR First Listen. Newman, says NPR, "remains first and foremost a craftsman of song, capable of telling ordinary stories in ways no one quite has before."
Dark Matter, Randy Newman's first album of new material in nine years, is due out on Nonesuch Records next Friday, August 4, with the vinyl due August 18. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full below as an NPR First Listen.
The new record, the follow-up to 2008's acclaimed Harps and Angels, was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by long-time Newman collaborators Mitchell Froom, Lenny Waronker, and David Boucher. It includes songs about Vladimir Putin, the Kennedy brothers, Sonny Boy Williamson, science vs. religion, love and loss, and more.
"Here, as on his previous album Harps and Angels from 2008, Newman drills past the surface chatter to explore what might be called the "deep state" of the zeitgeist—the prejudice beneath the prejudice, the foundational assumptions that are harder to expose, much less needle," writes NPR's Tom Moon in his review. "Newman teases these out brilliantly." Moon later concludes that Newman "remains first and foremost a craftsman of song, capable of telling ordinary stories in ways no one quite has before."
You can read more at npr.org/firstlisten.
To reserve a copy of Dark Matter, head to iTunes or the Nonesuch Store, where CD and vinyl pre-orders include an instant download of the album tracks "Putin" and "Sonny Boy," an exclusive print, and a download of the complete album on release day.
To see Randy Newman on tour this summer and fall, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
- Log in to post comments
