Mike Polizze: Around Sound (PoB-074)
Well, here we are with the overdue inaugural missive of this unholy not-so-new year of MMXXV. What can we say that hasn’t been said? What can we sing that hasn’t been sung? What awaits us, and what small things might sustain us? Here’s something, perhaps …
On July 11, 2025, almost exactly four years to the day after the appearance of his acclaimed debut solo record, Long Lost Solace Find (also released mid-disaster, in early pandemic days—see coupon code below), Mike Polizze of veteran Philadelphia psych-squallers Purling Hiss and Birds of Maya will release his second summertime solo album, ambiguously entitled Around Sound.
A rainier and more pensive affair than its predecessor—despite its playful humor and plentiful hooks—Around Sound affirms Polizze’s status as a consummate (and now not-so-secret) craftsman of instantly memorable bucolic odes of languid beauty, deepening his fingerstyle acoustic guitar magic (and finally manifesting the title of the classic 2010 Hiss anthem “Run from the City).” Polizze plays every part and instrument on the album, and once again, he co-produced with longtime friend and collaborator Jeff Zeigler (War on Drugs, Kurt Vile, Mary Lattimore), who also engineered and mixed.
Buy LP, CD, and Digital Album:
$13.00 – $34.00
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pagePre-order and Stream “Everybody I Know” Elsewhere
| Today Polizze shares the first single, “Everybody I Know,” which, with its sudden downshift from an anthemic rally into a slower, loping tempo, demonstrates the album’s more varied and intricate song structures, less bound by predictable shapes and progressions. |
- Deluxe LP edition features 140g black vinyl, a reverse board jacket, and an insert with artwork by Mike Polizze.
- Deluxe CD edition features a gatefold jacket with replica LP artwork.
- RIYL: Purling Hiss, Birds of Maya, Kurt Vile, Steve Gunn, Nap Eyes, the War on Drugs, Dinosaur Jr./J. Mascis, Ted Lucas, Bert Jansch, Wizz Jones, Daniel Johnston, Jonathan Richman, the Clean, the Kinks, Neil Young, the Grateful Dead
Acknowledgments for Mike Polizze and Long Lost Solace Find
He’s uncovered a rich seam of songwriting, classic-sounding yet modern, unquestionably nostalgic in temperament but undeniably vital … Even when he’s at his most melancholy and hangdog, the songs themselves gleam like diamonds. – Uncut
The sound of the record approaches bliss: the sonic equivalent of a beer on the beach at sunset. It flows like a well-conceived song cycle and moves gracefully from one thought to the next. – Pitchfork
Exquisitely beautiful … It has the wondrous, enveloping quality of a daydream. – American Songwriter
I love this music so much … So many of these songs give me chills. – Kurt Vile
Mike Polizze Live
5/10 Philadelphia, PA @ Pageant: Soloveev (as Mike Polizze/Bill Nace Duo) w/ Roger Miller (Mission of Burma) & Jacy Webster
7/12 Rockaway Beach, NY @ Connolly’s w/ Prison (Paul Major)
8/17 Philadelphia, NY (record release show) @ Johnny Brenda’s w/ Silver Synthetic & Lo Fives
9/6 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
More Mike
$9.00 – $31.00
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
$7.00 – $12.00
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page