Kevin Morby

More Photographs (A Continuum) (Dead Oceans)

Contact Jacob Daneman about Kevin Morby

Kevin Morby’s This Is A Photograph, released last year, was a defining moment for the 34-year-old songwriter. The New York Times described it as “a confident 45-minute sashay through vulnerable devotionals and existential reflections, tuneful folk and handclap soul,” and it currently stands as his most complete artistic statement.  Today, he announces More Photographs (A Continuum), a companion piece to This Is A Photograph, and will be released May 26th on Dead Oceans. He also shares two new songs, “This Is A Photograph II” b/w “Five Easy Pieces Revisited.” TIAP “features Morby’s richest songwriting” (Vulture), and studies life, time and mortality through myriad lenses, so it only makes sense that he found he wasn’t quite done with it on its completion. More Photographs (A Continuum) finds new nooks, corners and vantage points. “If This Is A Photograph is a house that you have been living inside of,” says Morby, “then More Photographs is, perhaps, the same home just experienced differently. As if you, its inhabitant, have taken a tab of something psychedelic and now, suddenly, you’ve replaced your eyeglasses with kaleidoscopes.”

 

Here, Morby returns to his landmark album’s bottomless themes with new wisdom, new imagination, and the winking, looping callbacks that tie his full body of work together in uniquely special ways. “Everything you once thought was familiar,” he continues, “suddenly appears differently, shifting shapes, color and sonic landscapes.” “Five Easy Pieces Revisited” captures the same moment from Bobby’s point of view; “This Is A Photograph II” takes a similar tack, revisiting its predecessor from a different angle.

 

“With every collection of songs,” says Morby, “I feel I have to cast them out of me before moving onto the next project, and here I knew that what I had begun with This Is A Photograph was not finished. Releasing this collection is me tying a bow on that time and place in my creative life.” With a luxurious nine tracks – three re-imaginings and six brand new songsMore Photographs (A Continuum) is prequel, sequel and primer to an already rich and generous record from one of our most luminous modern songwriters.  Additionally, the project’s cover artwork, which can be viewed below, was shot by acclaimed Memphis photographer Tommy Kha. More Photographs (A Continuum) will be available on vinyl in the fall and is available to pre-order now.