Peter Matthew Bauer, formerly of The Walkmen, will release his debut solo album Liberation! on June 24th via Mexican Summer. Recorded at a “factory space” in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philadelphia with his friends Quentin Stoltzfus, Christopher Colbert, and Matt Oliver, as well as former bandmates Hamilton Leithauser and Matt Barrick, this very personal album was conceived of while traveling thru Europe, after the break-up of The Walkmen, and it chronicles the time Bauer spent growing up around an ashram in upstate New York. As he explains,
“…some of the songs relate to [these] whispers you’d hear as a teenager, of all these dark shadows and characters hanging around. I think it’s very unusual that all this negative stuff arises, and yet, so many of these people are having these very strange, authentic spiritual experiences. That’s the sort of energy I was trying to get at – that paradox, which as you investigate it more, really seems to make more and more sense. Life is jubilant and joyous even through the shadows.”
On “Latin American Ficciones” Bauer’s voice is sounding as strong and emotive as ever, as he reels off tight, poetic lines alongside a raw, stripped back set-up of drum and guitar. The video for the track is directed by Matthew Barrick, and it uses it’s simple and intimate vantage to depict the very personal qualities from which this music arises.
