John Moreland Declares New Album, Drops Atmospheric Music ‘Ugly Faces’

John Moreland finds himself full of huge questions and regret in “Ugly Faces,” the Oklahoma singer-songwriter’s first launch from his new album. Birds within the Ceiling, the follow-up to 2020’s LP5, can be launched July 22 by way of Previous Omens/Thirty Tigers.

“Ugly Faces” nods to among the stylistic evolution Moreland demonstrated on LP5, placing a solemn piano along with a slow-but-funky programmed drum groove. “You’re seeing ugly faces in your goals,” he begins, ultimately piling on acoustic guitar, mandolin, and reside drums earlier than he turns apologetic. “I couldn’t hear you calling/the bullshit was so loud,” he sings. He might be singing to somebody with whom his relationship has frayed, and even to himself.

Lengthy admired for his gripping, emotive songwriting, Moreland began to include his curiosity in beat-making and drum machines into 2020’s LP5, a pronounced shift from the gritty country-rock and acoustic balladry of his earlier albums.

“For a very long time, I felt like these two issues needs to be separate,” he instructed Rolling Stone. “Then it simply reached a degree the place I felt all the pieces I used to be writing was simply not doing it for me. I assumed, ‘Possibly I would like to attract on another influences that I’ve, different stuff that I like.’ It was eye-opening to appreciate that I may incorporate all these pursuits.”

Birds within the Ceiling monitor checklist:

1. “Ugly Faces”
2. “Lion’s Den”
3. “Low cost Idols Wearing Costly Rubbish”
4. “Generational Mud”
5. “Dim Little Gentle”
6. “Declare Your Prize”
7. “Neon Center June”
8. “Fact Be Instructed”
9. “Birds within the Ceiling”