Kendall Street Company have announced Yodeling Astroman, their eighth studio album, due October 23 through Gitcha Records. The Virginia jam band have built the fifteen-track record as a set of folk tales told from the perspective of the title character, who by the band's account appeared in deep space shortly after the big bang and was later absorbed by human contradictions.
The lead single is out. "Don't Wanna Be Gone" started as a reflection on touring life, taking in anxiety and displacement, and singer Louis Smith described it plainly: "It's a song about wanting to stay in the present moment despite everything happening all the time."
The inputs behind that song are an odd list. Smith says he drew on footage of the Asheville floods and the California wildfires while writing it, alongside Paul Simon albums and Mad Max: Fury Road. Disaster footage and a road movie are a strange pair of references for a jam band single, and they explain why a song about staying present carries some weight underneath it.
Scott Gordon recorded, mixed and co-produced the album in Virginia Beach and Charlottesville. His credits include work with Alanis Morissette, which puts a pop-facing engineer behind a band whose reputation is built on long-form playing.
The tracklist runs "Last Night I Dreamed," "Don't Wanna Be Gone," "Lost and Found," "Back In My Day," "Feelings (or How Do I Feel?)," "Hoyt & Horn," "My Captain," "16oz World," "Smashed Roach," "How Can It Be," "The Gambler," "Lord Von Rubin," "My Doubts," the title track and "Get Along Now lil' Doggie."
The band are on the road across the eastern half of the United States through the end of the year, with no UK dates announced. The album release show is on October 23 at The Jefferson in Charlottesville, co-billed with Big Something. The record is filed under rock, and its date sits on the release calendar. Jam band coverage this season has taken in Umphrey's McGee and moe. joining forces in Grand Rapids and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes and Goose's Rick Mitarotonda forming the supergroup Rainbow Body.
The facts
- Yodeling Astroman is due October 23 via Gitcha Records.
- It is the band's eighth studio album and runs fifteen tracks.
- Lead single Don't Wanna Be Gone is out now.
- Scott Gordon recorded, mixed and co-produced it in Virginia.
- The album release show is at The Jefferson in Charlottesville.
- Kendall Street Company are a Virginia jam band.
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