Bad Books

Bad Books (Kevin Devine, Manchester Orchestra) announce LP, share 2 songs

Kevin Devine / Manchester Orchestra offshoot Bad Books recently announced their first tour in six years and said a new album was coming too, and now that album has officially been announced and two new songs are streaming. The album is called Bad Books III and due June 14 via Loma Vista digitally (and June 21 physically). (Pre-order here.) The album was produced by Ethan Gruska and mixed by Catherin Marks, and it sees the core trio of Kevin Devine, Andy Hull, and Robert McDowell abandoning a traditional rhythm section and instead making use of organ, foot pedals, string arrangements, and more.

The new songs are the Andy Hull-penned “Lake House” and the Kevin Devine-penned “I Love You, I’m Sorry, Please Help Me, Thank You,” and here’s what Andy and Kevin say about their respective songs:

Andy Hull on “Lake House”
“‘Lake House’ is quite a personal song to me. We tried to place it in a sonic environment that felt three dimensional. Instead of just hearing the song left and right, we wanted to have the sounds feel forward, backwards, above and below. Hopefully achieving a certain level of floating and immersive movements to take the listener along with the lyrical journey.”

Kevin Devine on “I Love You, I’m Sorry, Please Help Me, Thank You”
“I wrote the song after the birth of my daughter, about the difficult time I was having reconciling some of what was so terrifying to me about that moment atmospherically/culturally with the indescribable experience I was having as a new father. And also about how even the profound joy I felt didn’t dissolve every preexisting ugly knuckle kicking around in my psyche. I’d heard this phrase offered as a prayer in a secular setting. It offers me a bit of perspective and calm when things feel overwhelming. It feels good to sing.”

“Lake House” is on Andy’s more minimal, more atmospheric side — until the big harmonies come in at the end — and it’s always great to hear Andy in this mode. Kevin’s song is in the calm, folky realm that a lot of his best songs are in, and this one includes a taste of the album’s gorgeous string arrangements. Listen to both below.

As mentioned, the band’s tour with Brother Bird includes Brooklyn’s Elsewhere Hall on June 27 and Jersey City’s White Eagle Hall on June 28 (tickets). All dates are listed below.

Tracklist
Wheel Well
UFO
Myths Made Plain
Lake House
I Love You, I’m Sorry, Please Help Me, Thank You
Neighborhood
I Wrote It Down For You
Left Your Body
Supposed To Be
Army