*announcing* JEFF PARKER - Forfolks // new solo guitar album // co-release w/ NONESUCH RECORDS out
*announcing*
IARC0052
Jeff Parker
Forfolks
co-release with Nonesuch Records
LP/CD/Digital out December 10th 2021
preview & pre-order TODAY
Today we are happy to share news that Jeff Parker’s Forfolks — a new album of solo guitar works — will be released on December 10, 2021 via International Anthem & Nonesuch Records. The album includes interpretations of Thelonious Monk’s “Ugly Beauty” and the standard “My Ideal,” plus six original compositions including "Four Folks" (a tune first written by Parker and recorded in 1995) and "La Jetée" (a tune he recorded with Isotope 217 in 1997 and with Tortoise in 1998).
The four totally new original compositions are loop-driven, stratiform works that marry melodic improvisation with electronic textures. As Parker describes: "I am trying to create a sonic world to wander around in." The album was recorded by Graeme Gibson at Sholo Studio in Altadena, California (aka Jeff’s house) over two days in June 2021.
Preorder Forfolks on CD, Classic Black vinyl or limited edition *Cookie & Creme* color vinyl via our Bandcamp page here, with an instant download of “Suffolk.”
"SUFFOLK" VIDEO BY CAULEEN SMITH
The album's lead single "Suffolk" is available today via mesmerizing visual work by filmmaker Cauleen Smith. In a statement about her work, Smith said:
"Back in 2018 I invited an intergenerational group women to help me make some moving-images in Noah Purifoy’s Desert Museum in Joshua Tree. The resulting film, Sojourner, contemplates centuries of black feminist mysticism and cultural production. Something about Jeff’s Suffolk reminded me of waking up at four in the morning so that we could catch that sun rise, then napping until 4 pm so that we could ready for sunset. Our film depended on being sensitive to and present for the orbit of our planet, the loop around the sun."
Watch Cauleen Smith's video for "Suffolk" here
JEFF PARKER ON TOUR
Parker begins a US tour, playing solo guitar in support of the album, at Thalia Hall in Chicago on December 2nd. The tour, which he co-headlines with Steve Gunn, runs through the end of the year, making stops in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Nashville, Atlanta, Asheville, Baltimore, NYC, and more. Parker will also perform with his band, The New Breed, at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, in March 2022, leading into a run of spring dates with Gunn for shows in California (including three nights at Zebulon in Los Angeles), Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver.
Complete list of dates, with ticket links:
December 2, Thalia Hall, Chicago, IL
December 3, Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN
December 4, Cactus Club, Milwaukee, WI
December 5, Lakeside Inn, Lakeside, MI
December 7, Third Man Records, Nashville, TN
December 8, Terminal West, Atlanta, GA
December 9, Recover Brands, Charlotte, NC
December 10, Grey Eagle Tavern, Asheville, NC
December 11, Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC
December 12, Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD
December 14, The Sinclair, Cambridge, MA
December 15, Gateway City Arts, Holyoke, MA
December 16, Tubby’s, Kingston, NY
December 17, Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA
December 18, Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
*******
March 24–27, Big Ears Festival, Knoxville, TN (w/ The New Breed)
March 29, Pappy & Harriet's, Pioneertown, CA
March 30, CASBAH, San Diego, CA
March 31, Zebulon, Los Angeles, CA
April 1, Zebulon, Los Angeles, CA
April 2, Zebulon, Los Angeles, CA
April 3, TBD
April 4, The Guild Theatre, Menlo Park, CA
April 5, The Chapel, San Francisco, CA
April 6, Sebastiani Theatre, Sonoma, CA
April 8, Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR
April 9, Fawcett Hall at Alma Mater, Tacoma, WA
April 10, St James Hall, Vancouver, BC
April 11, The Crocodile, Seattle, WA
*Deluxe Vinyl Package*
COOKIE & CREME COLOR VINYL
Forfolks in vinyl form is a 33rpm 160 gram LP (pressed by Smashed Plastic in Chicago) in a heavyweight reverse-board jacket, with insert sheet, IARC obi strip and dome patterned inner sleeve.
And, as always, we have a limited edition color vinyl option for the first pressing only, available via our Bandcamp page only, which is 777 copies of Cookie & Creme color vinyl.
Order a copy via our Bandcamp page today!
International Anthem x Nonesuch Records
North & South American distribution
Forfolks is marketed & distributed in North & South America via our partnership with Nonesuch Records.
Following Jeff Parker's Suite For Max Brown (released in January of 2020), Rob Mazurek / Exploding Star Orchestra's Dimensional Stardust (released in November of 2020), and Ben LaMar Gay's Open Arms to Open Us (released Friday November 19th 2021), Forfolks is the fourth of at least six albums we'll be co-releasing alongside Nonesuch (i.e. the half-century-old label that's housed the likes of Steve Reich, Caetano Veloso, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, Ry Cooder, the whole classic suite of Buena Vista Social Club artists/albums, and many more).
As Nonesuch is part of the Warner Music Group, Forfolks will be distributed in North & South America by WEA. Stores, retailers, folks interested in wholesale purchases: please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions about where/how to stock these releases.
Distribution via K7 for
Europe, UK, Japan, Australia, and ROW
This album - and all of our albums - are distributed by our friends at K7 Records and their various territory partners in Europe, UK, Japan, Australia, Asia, and everywhere else in the world outside of North & South America.
If you are a retailer or store with questions about wholesale or are just looking to get some of our records... we'd like to make things as easy for you as possible, please do not hesitate to reach out!!!
All photos of Jeff Parker
by Lee Anne Schmitt
