Photo by Colin Medley.
Nap Eyes have announced a spring headline tour in support of their new album, Thought Rock Fish Scale, which is out February 5th on Paradise of Bachelors (in the U.S.) and You’ve Changed Records (in Canada).
Coinciding with this announcement is the release of Thought Rock Fish Scale’s centerpiece, “Lion In Chains.” The almost seven-minute long epic is one of several movingly ineffable moments on the album that gathers loved ones and legacies at a cautious if affectionate distance, folding them into carefully articulated but centerless koans. In the shivering, anthemic track, the eponymous beast hangs, heraldic and haunted by hometown nostalgia, above singer and audience alike—but only following a beautifully banal stanza about the hot water heater problems at the laboratory where singer Nigel Chapman works as a biochemist. Stream it below and check out a full list of Nap Eyes’ tour dates.
Pre-order now (use coupon code NAPEYES to get 20% off their debut LP Whine of the Mystic until Feb. 5)
$9.00 – $30.00
LISTEN TO NAP EYES’ “LION IN CHAINS”
NAP EYES TOUR DATES
Mon. Mar. 7 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott
Tue. Mar. 8 – Hudson, NY @ The Half Moon
Wed. Mar. 9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
Thu. Mar. 10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
Fri. Mar. 11 – Washington, DC @ DC9
Sat. Mar. 12 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
Sun. Mar. 13 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
Wed. Mar. 16-Fri. Mar. 18 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
Sun. Mar. 20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
Mon. Mar. 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
Tue. Mar. 22 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
Thu. Mar. 24 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Fri. Mar. 25 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza
Sat. Mar. 26 – Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
Mon. Mar. 28 – Calgary, AB @ Palomino Smokehouse and Social Club
Tue. Mar. 29 – Edmonton, AB @ Brixx Bar & Grill
Wed. Mar. 30 – Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo’s Cantina
Fri. Apr. 1 – Winnipeg, MB @ The Good Will Social Club
Sat. Apr. 2 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
Sun. Apr. 3 – Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
Mon. Apr. 4 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
Tue. Apr. 5 – Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
Thu. Apr. 7 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
Fri. Apr. 8 – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
*all dates with Cian Nugent
PRAISE FOR NAP EYES
“Nap Eyes moves from psych-riffs to astrophysicists; from Rubaiyatic poetry to punctuated bass, in easy fluid motions. Chapman’s calm, steady voice can be as pained as Bob Dylan’s, and his lyrics can be just as profound.”
– Noisey
“Unkempt rock songs that are steeped in tradition yet impossible to pin down. Nigel Chapman sings with an observational deadpan that echoes back to the likes of Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman, and David Berman. This guy spends his days studying the infinite complexity of seemingly simplistic cells, and his songs function the same way. There are worlds inside [these] little three-chord lament[s].”
“Whine of the Mystic is a necessarily dense title for a band like Nap Eyes, its multitudes containing additional multitudes. This is a drinker’s album, for the kind of drinker who does so alone, publicly, poring over popular 11th-century tomes.”
“Nap Eyes’ 2014 LP Whine of the Mystic was a brainy sort of daydream. Built on the genteel lilt of windswept electric guitars, swooning dramatic tension, and songwriter Nigel Chapman’s bookish lyricism, it felt sorta like falling asleep with a Velvets record playing in the distance and your nose in some weighty tome. It was deftly written indie pop… ‘Mixer’…brings with it the promise of more rambling romanticism.”
– SPIN
“It’s easy to imagine Lou Reed’s ghost giving Nap Eyes his gruffly benevolent blessing, impressed by their unvarnished diarizing in lean, art-pop songs that channel his spirit. But along with kitchen-sink detail, there’s real poignancy in the Canadians’ second set. Astutely played, instant charmers.”
– Uncut
“It’s almost a relief to hear the stoical guitar-bass-drums simplicity of this quartet. Concise, understated alt rock with cryptic, literate lyrics for Go-Betweens/Bill Callahan fans.”
– MOJO (4/5 stars)
“Nap Eyes are one of my favourite bands in Canada. Four cats from Halifax recording lazy, range rock’n’roll… a marauding dissertation on what we know and how we know it. Nigel Chapman sings his lines with a certain distance, Father Superior and his riddles, but the band is affectless, profane, casual as a bowl of cereal. I figure this is usually the way with gurus: well-spoken long-hairs and their roving, loyal, merry men.”
LISTEN TO NAP EYES’ “ROLL IT” AND “MIXER”
