Tim Heidecker
High School (Spacebomb Records)
Contact Jessica Linker about Tim Heidecker
Tim Heidecker unveils a new single, “Sirens of Titan (feat. Kurt Vile),” from his forthcoming album High School, out June 24th on Spacebomb Records. Presented alongside a video directed and animated by Ben Levin, “Sirens of Titan” follows the nostalgia-laced focus of previous singles “Punch in the Gut” and “Buddy,” and brings rock titan Kurt Vile into the mix. Heidecker sorts through teenaged ephemera – water beds, Kurt Vonnegut books, Gulf War newscasts, bad report cards, Velvet Underground records – to reckon with how little he knew then and his own growth since.
“I’m so happy to have Ben Levin’s incredible talents here to put a visual spin on this song, a song which catches me in a reflective mode, thinking about some of those awkward days in my high school days, feeling weird and learning about all the cool shit,” Heidecker says. “I wrote it thinking about how Kurt Vile writes songs and I was embarrassed to send it to him, but did anyway and he liked it enough to come over and sing and play on it!”
Throughout the last six years, Heidecker has chronicled the annals of adulthood with humor and heart on a series of supreme singer-songwriter albums. This new album, however, takes Heidecker back to a pivotal era of human development he has yet to mine – High School. Here, Heidecker emerges as an increasingly playful and poignant storyteller, infusing childhood tales with new gravity. Earnest and amusing, he finds plenty to say about those weird and wonderful and ordinary times. Produced by Heidecker, Drew Erickson, Eric D. Johnson and Mac DeMarco, High School was recorded at DeMarco’s studio. There, the group added drum machines, synths and sidewinding solos to Heidecker’s big strummed chords, making the music as rich as the feelings.
Tim Heidecker’s first two-act tour of comedy and music is on the near horizon. It kicks off in early July with a week of sold out warm-up shows at the Elysian Theatre in Los Angeles, and wraps in late August with five sold out nights at the Bell House in Brooklyn. The first half of each night will feature Heidecker’s “No More Bullshit” stand-up character, and the second presents Tim Heidecker, the songwriter, musician and performer. Heidecker (guitar, vocals) will be joined by The Very Good Band – Josh Adams (drums), Eliana Athayde (bass, vocals), and Catfish Connor (lead guitar, pedal steel) – playing songs from his entire catalogue. Tickets are on sale now at timheidecker.com/live.
