CALIFONE’S ALL MY FRIENDS ARE FUNERAL SINGERS OCTOBER 6

DEAD OCEANS TO RELEASE CALIFONE’S ALL MY FRIENDS ARE FUNERAL SINGERS OCTOBER 6

“…gorgeously art-damaged roots-rock.”—The New York Times

“…a staggering homage to starts and finishes, computers and cornfields, dirty feet and throbbing foreheads.”—Pitchfork

Califone’s forthcoming album All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is set for release October 6 by Dead Oceans. The album marks the highly anticipated follow-up to 2006’s Roots & Crowns, which The New York Times calls “enthralling,” and Paste praises as “Acoustic Delta blues, back-porch Appalachia, folk-pop and syncopated funk marinate in futuristic sounds, like Mississippi John Hurt, Neil Young and Curtis Mayfield transported through Four Tet’s chop shop.”

The Chicago-based band consists of multi-instrumentalists Tim Rutili, Jim Becker, Joe Adamik, and Ben Masseralla. On All My Friends Are Funeral Singers the band employs a wide range of instrumentation and electronic effects to create a dense collage of sounds. Instruments range from the traditional (guitar, violin, banjo, percussion) to the unusual (optigan, stylophone, baritone ukulele, mbira, thumb piano).

Longtime collaborator and producer Brian Deck (Iron & Wine, Gomez, Modest Mouse) says, “Tim’s songwriting on All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is my favorite yet. They have found a sound unlike anyone else, and are able to draw otherworldly sounds from very common instruments. It’s melodically inventive and economical and delivered with more detail and nuance than before.”

Primary songwriter and vocalist Tim Rutili, whose artistic endeavors stretch beyond music and include the creation of surreal short documentaries, music video and film scores, recently wrote and directed his first feature-length film. The screenplay for the film draws on the same themes and inspirations as the album, and many of the songs were written at the same time and contain the same images and characters. The film, also titled All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, will be submitted to film festivals early next year.

Califone will incorporate a full-length presentation of the film during their live performances, adding a new element to the band’s live show. Nationwide tour dates will be confirmed shortly.