Dean Wareham Shares Title Track From New Album 'That's The Price of Loving Me'
Listen to the new track from Dean Wareham and Kramer now.
By: Josh Sharpe Feb. 06, 2025
On March 28, Dean Wareham (Luna, Galaxie 500, Dean & Britta) will release his 4th solo album, That’s The Price Of Loving Me via Carpark. The LP reunites Wareham with Kramer (Galaxie 500, Will Oldham, Low) as producer, marking their first collaboration in 34 years. Ahead of the album, he has shared the title track which pulses with conga rhythms and Kramer’s vintage Moog synthesizer solo, while Dean muses on the life of a performer and the sacrifices it demands.
Dean says, “‘That’s the Price of Loving Me’ is about our life on the road but also a dream I had about our tour manager and dear friend Kiko, who passed away a couple years ago; he drove us around Europe in his Mercedes Sprinter with red zebra upholstery."
Wareham previously shared lead-single “You Were The Ones I Had To Betray” which saw support from Pitchfork, Stereogum, and Paste, among others. Dean will be heading out on the road in support of That’s The Price Of Loving Me with a West Coast tour that kicks off May 10 at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown, CA. A tour of the UK and Europe precedes that in April. All dates are listed below and tickets are on-sale here. Watch this space for news of additional North American shows this summer.
Kramer last collaborated with Dean on Galaxie 500’s swan song This Is Our Music in 1990. Across the LP’s 10 tracks, you can hear traces of their earlier work together, but today the chord progressions are more complex – drawing influence from Bacharach, Gainsbourg, Norma Tanega – and the arrangements are too. Yet Wareham’s signature electric guitar stylings still anchor the songs - before he opens his mouth to sing, you can recognize his voice in the guitar lines. “Kramer insisted that I play all the guitars on this record,” says Dean. “And we worked quickly. Kramer believes that two takes yield more treasure than twenty, and he always seems to have the song mapped out in his head right away.”
With a career spanning decades, beginning with his seminal band Galaxie 500 and continuing with Luna and Dean & Britta (his wife Britta Phillips is in both bands), That’s The Price of Loving Me marks Wareham's fourth solo album. Most recently, he released a holiday album, A Peace of Us, last year alongside Phillips and Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3) earning accolades from The New York Times, Vogue, Flood Magazine, Under the Radar, and more. Additionally 2024 saw the release of Uncollected Noise New York, 88-90, a compilation of unreleased Galaxie 500 tracks (The New York Times interview with Wareham is available here).
That’s the Price of Loving Me, was recorded in just six days in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles and the album’s sonic palette occasionally hints at Galaxie 500, but the passage of time is front and center. “Imagination is memory,” says Dean. “Working over and expanding of anything and everything we can remember.”
Kramer leaves his musical fingerprint throughout; playing acoustic and electric piano, pump organ, celeste and various synthesizers. Britta plays bass and adds backing vocals, while drums were played by longtime collaborators Roger Brogan (Spectrum, Alison’s Halo) and Anthony LaMarca (the War on Drugs). Gabe Noel, the extraordinary L.A. session cellist, joined on four tracks he arranged on the spot without hearing a single note beforehand. Vocally, Dean’s range is lower, closer and more intimate than it was in 1990 and the album’s lyrics are melancholic and witty in equal measure.
Speaking of the collaboration Kramer says “34 years is a long time. But I love Dean, so it was worth the wait. Going back into the studio with him again felt like we’d never been apart. And when the work was done, I felt like it couldn’t have been better. There was a ‘full circle’ air around us that still lingers. I’m grateful for having been invited inside again, and for the emotional opportunities that a truly deep and personal collaboration can offer. It’s incredibly rare, and I’d be surprised if I feel anything even remotely like this again.”
Tour Dates
April 1 - Glasgow, UK @ The Garage
April 2 - Manchester, UK @ Band on the Wall
April 3 - Liverpool, UK @ Hangar 34
April 4 - Leamington, UK @ The Assembly
April 5 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
April 6 - Bristol, UK @ The Fleece
April 7 - London, UK @ 229
April 8 - Paris, FR @ Le Petit Bain
April 10 - Utrecht, NL @ DB’s
April 12 - Groningen, NL @ Aa Theater
April 13 - Hamburg, DE @ Nachtasyl Theater
April 15 - Berlin, DE @ Frannz Club
April 18 - San Sebastian, Spain @ Dabadaba
April 20 - Barcelona, Spain @ Sala Upload
April 21 - Valencia, Spain @ 16 Toneladas Rock Club
April 22 - Zaragoza, Spain @ La Lata De Bombillas
April 24 - Granada, Spain @ Caja Granada Cultural Center
April 25 - Madrid, Spain @ Sala Villanos
May 10 - Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s
May 11 - Ojai, CA @ Deer Lodge
May 14 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
May 17 - San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
May 20 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
May 21 - Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
Photo credit: Laura Moreau
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