If you wandered through a string of warehouse gigs in the early 2000s, you likely crossed paths with Carissa’s Wierd, a group whose music seemed almost too beautiful for the rooms that housed it. In those days, stumbling into a punk-house basement and being swept away by soulful folk-rock harmonies was par for the course. Looking back, Carissa’s Wierd feels like a peculiar little marvel, so it’s fitting that they’re poised to return with their first new album in twenty-five years.
Jenn Champion and Mat Brookes formed Carissa’s Wierd in Tucson during the mid-1990s, later relocating to Seattle after touring with Modest Mouse. They cultivated a deliberately crafted slowcore sound and expanded the lineup with a few new members, including teenage drummer Ben Bridwell. The band released three albums before dissolving in 2003. Champion went on to create the duo S and then released a sequence of overlooked solo records. Brookes and Bridwell went on to form Band Of Horses, with Brookes eventually departing to establish Grand Archives.
After reissuing their catalog, Carissa’s Wierd staged a reunion show in 2010 and issued a one-off single, “Tucson,” the following year. They’ve been performing again recently, and now they’ve announced Somewhere Further Than Far Away, due out early next year. It will be their first full-length since 2002’s Songs About Leaving. Champion and Brookes tracked the album by recording their parts in their bedrooms and trading the pieces back and forth, before completing the project at a Seattle studio.
The opening track, “No One Lives Here Anymore,” is the first new Carissa’s Wierd song in 15 years and it feels as though it’s been transported from a distant era. The harmonies entangle with one another with fragile grace before the drums enter. It’s stunning. Below, you can hear the studio version of “No One Lives Here Anymore,” plus a live video and the tracklist for Somewhere Further Than Far Away.
TRACKLIST:
01 “No One Lives Here Anymore”
02 “Painted Hell”
03 “There’s Nowhere To Go”
04 “Necklaces Exploding”
05 “January”
06 “What Has Been Done Cannot Be Undone”
07 “Another Ugly Ending”
08 “I Don’t Feel Like I Feel Right”
09 “Just Been Lied To (Part VI)”
10 “Circling The Ashtray / Sleepwalking Off Rooftops”
11 “A Place In The Sun”
12 “Whispering Drunks”
13 “3 Palms (Main Theme)”
Somewhere Further Than Far Away drops 1/8 on Nettwerk. Pre-order it here. Carissa’s Wierd, alongside contemporaries the American Analog Set, will headline LA’s And Always Forever festival, taking place 11/6-8 at the Echo and Echoplex.
