Kurt Vile has announced Back to Moon Beach, his new EP out November 17 on Verve. To celebrate the release, Vile has shared its lead single/video, “Another good year for the roses.” In conjunction, Vile has announced 2024 North American tour dates.
Back to Moon Beach is an EP by no one’s definition but Kurt Vile’s. Clocking in at just shy of an hour, this would be a long full-length record by most any other artist’s yardstick; but for Vile, the collection is an expression of just how deep his well of non-album material runs. Following his 2022 album, (watch my moves), Back to Moon Beach collects new songs, one-offs, covers, and newly reworked versions of beloved tracks.
It is presented in three ways: a standard vinyl release with six tracks, a digital/CD format with nine tracks, and a deluxe “direct-to-consumer” double-LP with 10 tracks (which includes the only place non-Amazon users can hear Kurt’s cover of Charli XCX’s “Constant Repeat”).
Lead single “Another good year for the roses” is Back to Moon Beach’s opening track, a richly psychedelic downtempo earworm with an instantly memorable arpeggiated piano melody. The song was co-produced by and features Cate Le Bon, and also features Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Courtney Barnett). The video features a pastoral scene of Kurt and friends in the woods, jamming out, before he joins a new band made up of actors Kevin Corrigan and Michael Shannon for a show at NYC dive Otto’s Shrunken Head.
Kurt offered a statement on the project, writing, “Hi! Here’s the opening track from my upcoming ep… ok, it’s longer than an ep… now I call it a KV comp. The first 6 tracks—which are the ones that fit on a single LP—are new to the world, with one foot in the not-too-distant past and the other with one tiny toe pointing toward the future. Together my feet are like a couple spanning time together.
“This song was started at Stinson Beach, CA in September 2019 for a few days of recording with Rob Laakso, Stella Mozgawa, Chris Cohen, Cate Le Bon (and Adam Langellotti floating as a fly on the wall as well). Adam and I being the two overseers across this entire endeavor: we finished it on our own (and with some friends along the way). We ended up demonically overdubbing for weeks straight at OKV Central, Philly (my studio)… this was all of May 2023… so many magic moments.”