Young Jesus has announced a new album, set to arrive this fall. The album, titled Shepherd Head, marks the group’s sixth album, and was recorded within the span of a week.
Young Jesus crafted the album following the death of a close friend of the band’s lead vocalist, John Rossiter. With Shepherd Head, Rossiter utilized found sounds and voice memos when creating tracks.
“I would pitch things down an octave and add strange reverb,” said Rossiter in a statement. “If a dog barked, I would isolate it and make it part of a beat. I recorded a voice singing on the street just walking by a storefront and autotuned it. Some guitar parts are just mistakes from voice memos that I chopped, stitched, and looped. I used sounds of rivers, people walking, friends talking. It was a lot of fun. I didn’t care about the fidelity of the recording. Whatever wanted to be in came in.”
Ahead of the album, Young Jesus has released a new song called “Ocean,” which features Tomberlin. In the song, found sounds, like leaf crunches, can be heard in the background of bassist Marcel Borbón Peréz’s hypnotic bassline and Peter Martin’s looped percussion. The song’s accompanying video contains scenes from Coney Island in New York City.
Check out “Ocean” above and the Shepherd Head tracklist and cover art below.
1. “Rose Eater”
2. “Ocean” Feat. Tomberlin
3. “Johno”
4. “Shepherd Head”
5. “Gold Line Awe”
6. “Satsuma”
7. “Believer” Feat. Arswain
8. “A Lake”
Shepherd Head is out 9/16 via Saddle Creek. Pre-save it here.