birds-of-america

listen to Lake Ruth's new LP 'Birds of America'

Concrete wall texture painted white for background.

Lake Ruth, the trio featuring members of Enon, The New Lines, and The Eighteenth Day of May, will release their second album, Birds of America, on Friday (2/16). The group draws influence from from baroque psychedelia, ’60s film soundtracks, Serge Gainsbourg and motoroik krautrock, for a pristine, groovy, retro-futuristic pop sound. The obvious comparison is to Broadcast (or even Saint Etienne and The Cardigans) but Lake Ruth are not as clinical — singer Allison Brice has a warm, inviting voice and the arrangements are not as alien landscape-y. With this one, they’ve carved out their own gorgeous nook in a specific sonic universe, and Birds of America is a better record all-around than their terrific debut, with stronger songs and chemistry from these three playing live together over the last couple years. The cover art — which is taken from a detail of Edinburgh artist Alan Mills, Jr’s 2016 painting “The Birth of Socialism” — is striking as well. A stream of the whole album premieres in this post and you can listen to it below.

Pre-order Birds of America (only 500 vinyl copies pressed).