Acclaimed singer-songwriter Parker Millsap shares his new song, “Dammit,” from his soon-to-be-released album BE HERE INSTEAD, arriving via Okrahoma Records/Thirty Tigers Friday, April 9. “Dammit” is one of the album’s most majestic moments as it unfolds as an unlikely epic that perfectly captures the nuances of existential frustration while working up a furious momentum that’s nothing less than exhilarating. It’s joined by an official music video available now.
“‘Dammit’ is a song about being frustrated by the limits of my perception, and the laws of the natural world,” says Millsap. “This song started as a ballad. It changed so much. I can’t wait to release the original demo one day. I was trying to write something with complex chord changes at first, and when I sent it to John (Agnello, producer) he said he really liked the lyrics, but he suggested I try to make the music ‘a little more like a U2 song.’ I got out the delay pedals and messed with it for a couple of hours and couldn’t figure out how the hell U2 sounded like that! So I decided to try it like a Lou Reed song instead. That was the ticket. I simplified the chords from 8 down to 2 (always a good move) and it clicked! Then I cranked the tempo up a little and was able to expand the lyrics, and it’s now one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written.”
BE HERE INSTEAD was produced by the legendary John Agnello (Kurt Vile, Sonic Youth, Waxahatchee), and was heralded in January with the luminous “The Real Thing.” The song – which features guest vocals from Nashville singer Erin Rae – was also joined by a video, streaming now at YouTube. The song met with a lot of excitement at radio, hitting #1 on the Americana chart and making NPR’s Heavy Rotation list twice.
In February, Millsap released the song “Vulnerable,” a lushly textured piece of psychedelic soul threaded with elegantly simple wisdom that Rolling Stone called “a shimmering dreamlike production that plays like an underwater orchestra.” The song was joined by a companion video directed by Casey Pierce. BE HERE INSTEAD is now available for pre-order, with instant grat downloads of “The Real Thing,” “Vulnerable,” and “Dammit.”
Millsap’s fifth studio LP and first new album in close to three years, BE HERE INSTEAD marks a stylistic shift from the gritty and high-energy folk of the Oklahoma-bred, Nashville-based artist’s previous output. Mainly recorded live with Millsap’s full band, the album sees a departure from the guitar-and-notebook-based approach to songwriting that shaped his earlier work. Instead, Millsap has followed his curiosity to countless other modes of expression, experimenting with everything from piano to effects pedals to old school drum machines (a fascination partly inspired by the early-’70s innovations of Sly Stone and J.J. Cale).
Millsap has also announced that he will be performing two “Virtual Album Release Concerts” streaming from 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville, TN via Mandolin. April 9 will be his first-ever full-band concert stream and, on April 23, he and the band will perform Be Here Instead from start to finish. Tickets for each stream as well as bundles and VIP Q&A Sessions available HERE.
