TANLINES Release New Album For 'New Reality'

Tanlines, aka Eric Emm and Jesse Cohen, have released their highly anticipated new album, The Big Mess, out today, May 19 via Merge.

It marks their first LP in eight years. Today they also share a new single "New Reality" of which Emm says, "I wrote this about trying to maintain my edge as a mostly-stay-at-home-dad. I originally shelved it thinking it was too naive but when I came back to finish the album it had taken on a powerful new meaning following the vibe shift of the pandemic and moving to the country. The video is my take on every video made in a mall, an increasingly frequent destination in my parenting routines and current fixture in my new reality."

The logo accompanying the duo's 2012 debut album Mixed Emotions was a winking sad-face emoji-cute, even profound, in its dead-simple representation of two seemingly conflicting ideas at the same time. Eleven years later, Tanlines are still making escapist, joyful-sounding songs about sad, insular moments and melancholy songs about catharsis and joy, but the inherent contradictions have only grown.

Emm and Cohen are indie-rock lifers turned reasonable, happy middle-aged fathers of two, figuring out their place in a chaotic culture and industry that can no longer command their full attention.They are emblematic of a particular time and place that doesn't really exist anymore, yet here they are existing, and thriving, in 2023.

Tanlines recently shared the album's title track and before that "Burns Effect" which saw support from a number of outlets including Brooklyn Vegan who noted the song in their "top 18 sounds out today" list and Under The Radar who included it in their "Top 10 tracks of the week" list. They announced the LP with "Outer Banks" which was picked up by Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and NPR, among others.

Listen to the new album here:

Photo credit: Katie Notopoulos