Pedro the Lion surprise-release new album 'Havasu' (listen!), announce tour

January 20, 2022

We were just saying that we’re anticipating Pedro the Lion‘s second reunion album, and — surprise! — IT’S HERE. It’s called Havasu, and it just dropped digitally via Polyvinyl (with physical pre-orders launched too). In the band’s new bio, which was penned by Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis, band leader David Bazan reveals that Havasu is the second album in a series of five albums, which started with 2019’s Phoenix. An excerpt reads:

Lake Havasu is a community of winding hillside roads, launched in the 1960s alongside a brick-for-brick rebuild of the original London Bridge. “It’s this very synthetic, gimmicky place set in this soulful, desolate landscape,” laughs Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan, who moved to the Arizona city for one year in seventh grade. Bazan collected his earliest childhood experiences for 2019’s Phoenix, the prolific artist’s celebrated return to the Pedro moniker and the first in a planned series of five records chronicling his past homes. To write its sequel, Bazan traveled to Havasu four times over several years, driving past his junior high campus, a magical skating rink, and other nostalgic locations that evoked feelings long suppressed. “An intersection I hadn’t remembered for 30 years would trigger a flood of hidden memories,” he says. “I was there to soak in it as much as possible.”

The new album was made with co-producer and engineer Andy D. Park, who also worked on Phoenix, and Bazan wrote, arranged, and performed most of the music himself, with help from PTL live drummer Sean T. Lane on every track, synths from longtime collaborator Andy Fitts, and a guitar riff on album opener “Don’t Wanna Move” from PTL live guitarist Erik Walters that also appeared on Phoenix closer “Leaving The Galley.” “I was psyched to open this record with it,” Bazan said. “I’m trying to have a flow between the records, so if people want to engage with that, there’s something there.”

I’ve only heard Havasu once so far, but like Phoenix, it feels like an album that really adds to Pedro the Lion’s legacy. It stays true to the sound that Bazan established on the band’s classics, and it feels new and fresh too. Listen to the whole thing below.

Pedro The Lion also announced a spring tour, with support on one leg from Oceanator and support on another from Charlotte Cornfield. The dates with Oceanator include Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 25 (tickets on sale Friday at 10 AM). All dates are listed below.

Pedro the Lion — 2022 Tour Dates
04/12 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar #
04/13 – Tulsa, OK @ The Vanguard #
04/14 – Dallas TX @ Granada Theater #
04/15 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk #
04/16 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall #
04/18 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn #
04/19 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East #
04/20 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West #
04/21 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle #
04/23 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat #
04/24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer #
04/25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg #
04/26 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall #
04/28 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre #
04/29 – Columbus, OH @ Skullys #
04/30 – Indianapolis, IN @ The HI-FI #
05/01 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall #
05/03 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line #
05/22 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux &
05/23 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge &
05/25 – Denver, CO @ The Gothic &
05/27 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom &
05/28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room &
05/29 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory &
05/31 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent &
06/02 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall &
06/03 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox &