When you’re a young dude in Music City, a lot can happen in a couple years. The Promised Land Sound whose debut country-rock burner we released in 2013, when its members were all at or well below the quarter-century mark—all garage-gang vocals, ragged Telecaster licks, and buzzing Farfisas—is not the same band that recorded the ambitious, nuanced second album For Use and Delight.
That’s right: Nashville’s finest purveyors of febrile root-work psychedelia have returned with a dizzyingly accomplished second album that highlights an expanded band (including members of the Paperhead and Fly Golden Eagle); bigger, bolder arrangements featuring more and louder guitars, squally strings, and Steve Gunn; and road-ripened songwriting that veers between the frenetic and tender, recalling Jim Ford, the Pretty Things, the Grateful Dead, Dennis Linde, Big Star, and the Byrds at their most eight-miles-fried.
$9.00
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageOther ways to purchase this release: iTunes | Bandcamp
The deluxe LP, pressed on virgin vinyl, features a heavy-duty matte jacket, color insert, and a download coupon; the CD is housed in a gatefold matte jacket. Pre-orders include an immediate 320k MP3 download of the first single, “She Takes Me There,” which you can listen to here thanks to the good people at NPR. We anticipate shipping pre-orders at least a week in advance of the October 2 release date.
https://youtu.be/1y0j3MyirHs
All pre-order customers who place orders by September 20 will be entered into a drawing for a For Use and Delight test pressing and a PoB t-shirt (now available in new colors.)
The loveliness and vitality of “She Takes Me There” reflects all of For Use And Delight. With a sound that’s at once more focused and wider-ranging than on its first album, the group shows why psychedelia is always a great aesthetic to revive: It provides plenty of historical touchstones, from The Byrds to the Rain Parade to Promised Land Sound collaborator Steve Gunn; but because the psychedelic experience is about mind expansion, it always goes somewhere new. Sad or happy, calm like this track or ripping up the studio, this band is on a path that’s deeply pleasurable.
– Ann Powers, NPR Music
Reminds me of Eggs Over Easy & the Link Wray albums—a version of country-rock that isn’t too glossy, that still has gravel stuck in the boot toes. – William Tyler
What the Byrds might have sounded like had Gram Parsons joined the band a year or two earlier. Exemplary! – John Mulvey, Uncut
Photo by Alysse Gafkjen.
You may have seen them on recent tours with Angel Olsen or Alabama Shakes, but you’ll want to catch the new expanded Promised Land Sound on tour this October with their friend Natalie Prass. A full list of confirmed dates is below, more TBA. Visit The Windish Agency for details and updates.
PROMISED LAND SOUND TOUR DATES
Tue 10/20/15 – Stubbs Jr – Austin, TX- Natalie Prass- Buy
Thu 10/22/15 – Club Congress – Tucson, AZ – Natalie Prass – Buy
Fri 10/23/15 – Echoplex – Los Angeles, CA – Natalie Prass- Buy
Sat 10/24/15 – Soda Bar – San Diego, CA – Natalie Prass – Buy
Tue 10/27/15 – The Independent – San Francisco, CA – Natalie Prass – Buy
Thu 10/29/15 – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR – Natalie Prass – Buy
Fri 10/30/15 – Neumos – Seattle, WA – Natalie Prass – Buy
Sat 10/31/15 – Biltmore Cabaret – Vancouver, BC – Natalie Prass – Buy
Photo by Semi Song.