Vancouver roots rockers The Matinée are teasing the Feb. 17 release of their sophomore album with a new single this week.
The band plans to debut “Blood Alley” on Jan. 27, not long after releasing the album’s title track, “Dancing On Your Grave.”
The forthcoming single was inspired by Vancouver’s gentrification.
It’s the first collection of new music from The Matinée since the Broken Arrows EP in 2015 and the first full-length album since their 2013 debut We Swore We’d See The Sunrise.
Recorded at 604 Studios, Dancing On Your Grave was produced by Jamie Candiloro (Ryan Adams, REM) at an emotional time for the bands four members — singer Matt Layzell, guitarists Matt Rose and Geoff Petrie, and drummer Pete Lemon.
“We were all going through big life changes,” Layzell recalled, in a release. “After a difficult split, I found myself disappearing on solo road trips into the wild with my dog, trying to clear my head.”
The band came up with more than 40 songs but whittled it down to 11 for the album.
“More than half of them were written in the studio while we were doing the session,” explained Layzell. “The songs were so fresh. We were learning them as we were playing them.”
Check out the track listing:
1. Dancing on Your Grave
2. The Living
3. Show Me
4. Blood Alley
5. Fireworks
6. Figure It Out
7. Long Gone
8. The Price of Air
9. Sweet Thing
10. Anna Lee
11. My Heart Still Works
Veterans of touring in Canada, The Matinée plan to support the new album with some festival gigs this summer.
“No matter what, we’re going to keep doing what we love to do” Layzell said. “We truly love playing as a group, whether it’s for five people or 5,000 people.”
Dancing On Your Grave is available for pre-order now. While we wait for the second single, check out the title track — a celebration of the life of Layzell’s late grandfather — below.