New Releases category interest

Yep Roc Records have released Indoor Safari today, the first full-length album from Nick Lowe in over a decade. This twelve-song collection represents the culmination of Lowe’s longtime working relationship with Los Straitjackets - America’s beloved masked men of surf-and-spy guitar instrumentals - and serves as “a masterclass in songwriting” (The Sun) as Lowe “plunges back into the kicky, witty pop that first set him apart” (Rolling Stone). Indoor Safari offers brand-new originals from Lowe (“Went To A Party”), deep-cut rarities (“Different Kind Of Blue”) and refitted versions of songs previously released in nascent form as singles (“Trombone”); a songwriting process he first utilized in the Seventies on breakout cuts like “Cruel to Be Kind” and “Heart of the City.” Produced by Lowe, Indoor Safari was recorded in various locations and mixed by Alex Hall (JD McPherson, Cactus Blossoms) alongside Lowe at Reliable Recorders in Chicago.

Listen to Indoor Safari in full here: https://ffm.to/indoorsafari 

Earlier this week, Lowe shared his new original “Jet Pac Boomerang” from the collection - plus an accompanying visual featuring live performance footage with Los Straitjackets. Watch “Jet Pac Boomerang” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKkhyNPMvTA

Lowe on “Jet Pac Boomerang”: "I wrote this one while in Osaka, Japan in my hotel room while waiting for a taxi. It sounds like the pre-Beatles era of pop music that I grew up with. Ironically, when our engineer Alex Hall delivered the final mix to me, I was back in Osaka in the same hotel room as when I wrote the song years prior. I suppose everything comes back around much like the song title implies."

Lowe recently sat down to discuss the new album with David Fricke on his SiriusXM show The Writer’s Block, as well as with Rolling Stone, Salon and in a six-page MOJO spread. In the lead-up to Indoor Safari, Lowe was a surprise guest at Newport Folk during Conan O’Brien’s festival-closing set - appearing alongside Mavis Staples, Jack White, Brittany Howard and Nathaniel Rateliff. Following Newport, the GRAMMY Museum hosted “A New York Evening with Nick Lowe,” moderated by current Saturday Night Live cast member James Austin Johnson. The sold-out event included solo acoustic performances from Lowe of many tracks from Indoor Safari - plus “Indian Queens” from 2001’s The Convincer, a personal favorite track of Johnson’s. Earlier in the summer, he was invited by Jeff Tweedy to appear at Wilco’s Solid Sound festival - with Tweedy telling Stereogum: “he’s one of the most welcoming and charming and just gentlemanly dudes you could ever be around.” 

Lowe and Los Straitjackets will return to North America next month for tour dates across the continent, including multi-night stands in half a dozen cities. A full list of dates is below. 

Nick Lowe Tour Dates 

September 24 - The London Palladium - London, UK (with Los Straitjackets)

September 26 - The Fire Station - Sunderland, UK (with Los Straitjackets)

September 28 - National Concert Hall - Dublin, Ireland

September 29 - O2 Ritz Manchester - Manchester, UK (with Los Straitjackets)

September 30 - O2 Academy Birmingham - Birmingham, UK (with Los Straitjackets)

October 10 - Bowery Ballroom - New York City, NY (with Los Straitjackets)

October 11 - Bowery Ballroom - New York City, NY (with Los Straitjackets)

October 12 - World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA (with Los Straitjackets)

October 13 - World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA (with Los Straitjackets)

October 16 - Brighton Music Hall - Boston, MA (with Los Straitjackets)

October 17 - Brighton Music Hall - Boston, MA (with Los Straitjackets)

October 20 - Atlantis - Washington, DC (with Los Straitjackets)

October 21 - Atlantis - Washington, DC (with Los Straitjackets)

October 22 - Thunderbird - Pittsburgh, PA (with Los Straitjackets)

October 24 - TD Music Hall - Toronto, ON (with Los Straitjackets)

October 25 - TD Music Hall - Toronto, ON (with Los Straitjackets)

October 26 - Magic Bag - Ferndale, MI (with Los Straitjackets)

October 29 - Lincoln Hall - Chicago, IL (with Los Straitjackets)

October 30 - Lincoln Hall - Chicago, IL (with Los Straitjackets)

November 1 - Vivarium - Milwaukee, WI (with Los Straitjackets)

November 2 - Fine Line - Minneapolis, MN (with Los Straitjackets)

November 3 - Fine Line - Minneapolis, MN (with Los Straitjackets)