The Wild Reeds today shared their new video for “Giving Up On You,” the third single from their forthcoming album, Cheers. Directed by Michael Delaney, the clip has personal significance to the band:
“The video was inspired by the theory of ‘spooky entanglement’ and the ways in which we look for signs from the universe to give us the courage to make tough decisions. The video is dedicated to my dear friend Laura Peters of Psychic Love, who had been helping me with ideas for it prior to our director’s treatment. However, she passed away last month so we made it a point to honor her by using some of the artifacts I’ve been finding since then, such as the Lucky 13 pool ball,” explains Mackenzie Howe. “The character is essentially torn between moving on from someone/something — looking for signs to aid in making that decision — and also feeling helpless to their own attachment to it.” Watch it now HERE.
Cheers will arrive in stores on March 8, 2019 via Dualtone Records, and has been earning great press around previously released tracks “Don’t Pretend” and “Lose My Mind” from outlets including NPR Music’s All Songs Considered, Billboard, The Wild Honey Pie, and Buzzbands LA, among others. The album is available for pre-order now in multiple formats and bundles HERE.
The Wild Reeds will head out on a lengthy tour in support of Cheers this spring, beginning April 3rd in Kansas City, MO. The dates will continue through June 7th with a hometown Los Angeles, CA show and include an April 14th show in Brooklyn, NY. A current itinerary is below.
On Cheers, The Wild Reeds — singers, songwriters, and multi-instrumentalists Kinsey Lee, Howe, and Sharon Silva, with drummer Nick Jones and bass player Nick Phakpiseth — came together to create an ode to the joys and pains of camaraderie. The album is a career highlight achieved by giving each writer considerable latitude, in the end creating a singular work out of three striking songwriting voices. While making Cheers, Lee, Howe, and Silva leaned into their differences for the first time, giving one another unprecedented amounts of freedom to execute their own songs. Each was allowed room to pursue her vision, while always leaving an open door for the other members to step in and collaborate. “We decided to explore our individuality,” says Howe. “It was a scary thing for us, because when you have three writers, you often have to do your best to tame your differences and come to some sort of agreement writing-wise, sonically, stylistically. It was the first time we said, ‘Screw that, why don’t we just record the songs the way they should be done?’”
For all the exploration on Cheers, the result is still tight and cohesive. The album makes room for infectious sing-along anthems (opening track “Moving Target”), lilting ‘60s pop-rock waltzes that build to resounding finishes (“Cheers,” “Get Better”), haunting balladry (“Run and Hide,” “My Name”), and even a gloriously hook-heavy track Lee sheepishly admits started as a tongue-in-cheek pop punk throwback (“P.S. Nevermind”). Every song sounds fresh, but all of them sound like The Wild Reeds. “For me, it felt no holds barred, limitless, like I could step up to the plate,” Silva says. “The record feels very communal, and that’s part of the reason we called it ‘Cheers.’ It felt like, ‘Hey, we’re all in this together and we’re all focusing on what we’re getting better at.’ We could let go of what we’re supposed to sound like and all reach a higher potential.”
Cheers was born out of a strange and painful time, full of tough break-ups, family deaths, and discord within the band itself. The songs are snapshots from that upheaval, touching on illness, therapy, heartbreak and disconnection from three perspectives. Some of Cheers’ sunniest songs contain the darkest undercurrents, and The Wild Reeds don’t shy away from sadness or open endings. The album creates beauty out of contradictions: It finds community in individuality, tenderness in confrontation, joy in the midst of grief and pain. Threaded throughout is a deep sense of gratitude for the band itself, and the songs became a way for the members to talk to each other — an intimate language that was at times contentious, but in the end, healing. Ultimately Cheers is hopeful, celebratory, and communal; life can break your heart, but friends can mend it. The Wild Reeds’ trials have only strengthened their commitment to each other, and resulted in their strongest and most unified record to date.
The Wild Reeds tour dates:
04/03 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
04/04 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
04/05 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
04/06 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village
04/07 – Columbus, OH @ Skully’s Music Diner
04/09 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live Downstairs
04/10 – Allston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
04/12 – Uncasville, CT @ Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun Resort
04/13 – Portsmouth, NH @ Stone Church
04/14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
04/16 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
04/17 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle Back Room
04/18 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
04/19 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
04/20 – Asheville, NC @ The Mothlight
04/21 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
04/23 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
04/24 – Austin, TX @ Antone’s
04/26 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
05/08 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ SLO Brew
05/09 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
05/10 – Chico, CA @ Sierra Nevada
05/11 – San Jose, CA @ The Ritz
05/13 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater
05/14 – Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s
05/16 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux
05/17 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
05/18 – Ft Collins, CO @ Downtown Artery
05/19 – Denver, CO @ The Bluebird
05/20 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
06/06 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
06/07 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
