Touche Amore
photo by George Clarke

Touche Amore share guest-filled "Reminders" video, discuss influences on new album

Touché Amoré‘s anticipated fifth album, Lament, comes out next week (10/9) via Epitaph (pre-order). The record, made with famed producer Ross Robinson (At the Drive In, Glassjaw, The Blood Brothers, tons of nu metal bands), features the great previously released singles “Limelight” (ft. Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull), “Deflector,” and “I’ll Be Your Host,” and today comes one last pre-release single, “Reminders.” It’s another promising taste of this album, and it finds Touche Amore going in a more melodic punk direction, with frontman Jeremy Bolm harmonizing with past collaborator Julien Baker on the chorus.

“Reminders” comes with a video starring tons of awesome musicians (and other music industry figures) and their pets, including Jim Adkins, Alex Lichtenauer, Justice Tripp, Walter Schreifels, Brendan Yates, Julien Baker, Anthony Green, Britty Drake, Chase Mason, Ross Robinson, Ben Walsh, Aaron Weiss, Frank Iero, Justin Pearson, Brianna Collins, Tim McIlrath, Brad Wood, Kurt Ballou, Austin Getz, George Clarke, Barry Johnson, Ned Russin, Ross Farrar, Keith Buckley, Steve Evetts, Skrillex, Emma Ruth Rundle, Sammy Siegler, Tim Kasher, Norman Brannon, Tom May, Mike Park, J Bannon, Will Yip, Hunter Burgan, Chris Conley, Andy Hull, and tons of others.

“The music video for ‘Reminders’ conceptually was driven by bringing some joy to everyone’s timelines,” said Jeremy Bolm. “If we can provide even just three minutes of joy to someone right now that’s enough for us, and who doesn’t love seeing awesome people and their pets? Putting this video together was such a pleasure because it involved talking to friends we love and getting wholesome footage in return. The people involved include artists we admire and contributors to the album. We hope you love it as much as we do.” Watch/listen below.

We also spoke to guitarist Clayton Stevens about some of the music that influenced this album. It’s Touche Amore’s most genre-defying yet, so it may not surprise you that Clayton’s list includes a wide variety of music, from Leonard Cohen to Envy to The Pretenders to Cocteau Twins to Emmylou Harris to Interpol to mewithoutYou and beyond. Check out his list and his commentary on each pick below…

INFLUENCES ON TOUCHE AMORE’S LAMENT (by Clayton Stevens)

Leonard Cohen – “It’s Torn”

This track is from Leonard’s fifteenth and final album Thanks for the Dance. Lyrically, he is Jeremy’s biggest influence. In a strange coincidence of chance, the microphone that all of Jeremy’s vocals were recorded on was the microphone that Cohen used for The Future. I also found a card of him laying around the studio and placed it by Jeremy near the mic. The soul of Leonard is omnipresent on Lament.

Envy – “Swaying Leaves and Scattering Breath”

Envy is one of TA’s biggest influences. They balance dynamics at a masterful level. Everything about Envy informs our music. One of the all-time great bands. This song in particular is soaring, heavy, and beautiful.

Autolux – “Subzero Fun”

I started revisiting this record before the studio as a reference for production. Recorded in 2004, this album sounds as fresh as the day it came out. Massive guitars and brilliant production choices at every turn. Greg Edwards’ approach to guitar in both Failure and Autolux helped shape my guitar playing.

Traveling Wilburys – “End Of The Line”

Classic Laurel Canyon jangle pop meets Americana. Leading up to this album, Nick and I had been fascinated by the sound of The Byrds and the California ’60s sound. This song closes the album perfectly and is certified as one of the great guitar pop jams. Combining George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lyne turned out to be a pretty great idea, huh?

Pretenders – “Up The Neck”

Ross Robinson referenced this album a lot while we tracked guitars. This song in particular has a guitar sound that is special. Lush ’80s chorus with a great sort of post-punk feel. All the guitar work on this album is fantastic and I appreciate Ross making us listen to this with an ear on the guitar.

Cocteau Twins – “Carolyn’s Fingers”

Another thing Ross kept referencing was that some of the guitar parts Nick, Tyler, and I had brought in were a lot more “goth,” he kept calling them. Suddenly, we started nerding out about Cocteau Twins and the golden age of 4AD records. Cocteau Twins are masters of texture and space. I chose this song in particular for its unique upbeat nature in their catalog.

Emmylou Harris – “Where Will I Be”

The opener track of one of Emmylou’s most interesting albums, Wrecking Ball. This track is hauntingly beautiful. Combining both traditional country at a desperate slow pace and the genius of super producer Daniel Lanois, the use of ambient pedal steel in this album was a direct influence of our own experimentation with the instrument. Lanois is a master of pedal steel and laid the ground work for what we dug into. I could’ve put multiple Emmylou songs or Daniel Lanois songs or Lanois adjacent songs on this list but this song and album combine the two pretty well. Listen for the outrageous bass performance on this song, it reminds me of all the amazing bass parts Tyler played on Lament.

Interpol – “The New”

One of the last songs on Interpol’s flawless debut album and everything about this song is what I kind of think TA strives to be. Tension builds and breaks as the song goes. I’m still in awe after nearly 20 years at every moment on this album.

mewithoutYou – “Nice and Blue (pt.2)”

We had the immense privilege of getting to tour with these giants of post-hardcore back in 2014. The records they did with Brad Wood influenced us to record 2 albums with him. Then, we got to experience them live every night and, if you’ve seen them before, you know that you will be forced to internalize each performance. Every player in the band is incredible. This is a standout song for me because I love how the vocals play off the guitars and the intensely driving drum beat.

Buddy Emmons – “Witchcraft”

The last song on here is a beautiful pedal steel jazz composition. After shows (when those happened) we would often listen to jazz and relax in the van on our way to the next motel. Buddy is a highly influential steel player and I hope this song brings you some relaxing joy.

Lament comes out October 9 via Epitaph.

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