Nation of Language Release 'Stars and Sons' Cover
The track is featured on Under The Radar magazine’s 20th anniversary Covers of Covers compilation.
By: Michael Major Feb. 28, 2022
Nation of Language return to the road this week in support of their acclaimed sophomore album, A Way Forward, which dropped this past November via [PIAS]. The Brooklyn band are set to perform their largest headlining show to date this Thursday, in New York City, at Webster Hall, along with shows in Baltimore, Boston and Philadelphia this week, before heading west [all dates below].
Today, they release a cover of one of Broken Social Scene's most beloved songs, "Stars and Sons," which is featured on Under The Radar magazine's 20th anniversary Covers of Covers compilation, due out Friday via American Laundromat Records.
Discussing the cover, Ian Richard Devaney noted that "Once we settled on Broken Social Scene, and this song, we realized that loving 'Stars and Sons' so much, if we didn't transform it a fundamental way, we would end up just copying it straight up. Not wanting to do that, we decided to change the rhythm to turn it into a shuffle, which made it easier to get loose with the structure and have fun with it. We worked with Nick Millhiser of Holy Ghost!, who worked on parts of A Way Forward. On the album, we have a song called 'Former Self' that's also a shuffle, but in a much more reserved way, so we wanted to go all-out here, and turn it into a weirdo dance song."
2022 has already been a stellar year for Nation of Language, with the band making their live television debut last month on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert', where they performed their single "Across That Fine Line". Followed by an entirely sold-out, first-ever tour of the UK. Earlier this month, the band signed copies of A Way Forward at the Rough Trade store in New York's Rockefeller Center; performed at XPN's 'World Cafe Live' in Philadelphia, and appeared on WNYC's 'All Of It'.
Their upcoming tour of North America is also their biggest to date, including two nights in Seattle, two nights in Los Angeles, and a return to Canada, wrapping with performances in Toronto and Montreal. The band was additionally announced for THING Festival in Port Townsend, WA, August 26-28 [tickets for all dates here].
With A Way Forward, Nation of Language captures the trials and tribulations of modern life - from the simplest forms of human connection to surviving a world in which political corporate machines spew a stream of digital pollution through every device.
Listen to the new single here:
Tour Dates
03/02 - Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
03/03 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall
03/04 - Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
03/05 - Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
03/18 - San Diego, CA @ Music Box
03/19 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room [SOLD OUT]
03/20 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
03/23 - San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo's
03/24 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile [SOLD OUT]
03/25 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile
03/26 - Portland, OR @ Vitalidad Hall
03/27 - Boise, ID @ Neurolux, Treefort Music Fest
03/29 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theatre
03/30 - Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
03/31 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
04/01 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
04/02 - St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
04/03 - Indianapolis, IN @ HiFi
04/06 - Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
04/07 - Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace
04/8 - Montreal, PQ @ Bar Le Ritz
04/15 - Dublin, IE @ The Button Factory
04/16 - Nottingham, UK @ The Bodega Social Club [SOLD OUT]
04/18 - Antwerp, BE @ TRIX Bar [SOLD OUT]
04/19 - Cologne, DE @ YUCA
04/20 - Hamburg, DE @ Turmzimmer [SOLD OUT]
04/22 - Copenhagen, DK @ Vega
04/23 - Stockholm, SE @ Obaren [Free]
04/27 - Berlin, DE @ Lido [SOLD OUT]
04/28 - Amsterdam, NE @ Tolhuistuin
04/29 - Nijmegen, NE @ Doornroosje
04/30 - Paris, FR @ Le Badaboum [SOLD OUT]
05/01 - Zurich, CH @ Kater [SOLD OUT]
05/03 - Barcelona, ES @ Razzmatazz
05/04 - Madrid, ES @ Sala El Sol [SOLD OUT]
05/05 - Valladolid, ES @ Sala Cientocero
05/06 - Porto, PT @ M.ou.co
08/26-28 - Port Townsend, WA @ THING
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