Tanbark's New Single HEART-SHAPED LOCKET Out via Folk Radio UK

Brooklyn-based duo Tanbark has shared "Heart-Shaped Locket," a new track from their forthcoming self-titled album, out May 31st. The song is the third from the record, and was inspired by, as most of the songs on Tanbark, talismans and good luck charms. "'Heart-Shaped Locket' was inspired by a locket that I got at an antique market in London," says band member Chloe Nelson. "I carefully drew tiny illustrations of people in it, and this personal touch unintentionally made the people indecipherable to anyone but myself. A locket is something you wear closed in plain sight, hiding the things or people that you most treasure. I wanted to evoke hastily purchased gift shop tchotchkes and a getaway car with dusty pink dice on the rear-view mirror, rolling out of town. Halfway through the song, the narrator gets a bit less reliable; she pleads and maybe longs for something she does not quite have."

LISTEN: "HEART-SHAPED LOCKET"

"Whilst Tanbark are a new name to me, it was the beautiful strummed opening of this track and Chloe Nelson's vocals that hooked me right in," says Folk Radio UK's Alex Gallacher. "They have that timeless sound, one which sounds both vintage and original...We're looking forward to hearing more." The release of "Heart-Shaped Locket" follows singles "Promise To Send," which Atwood Magazine said "takes us back to a time of innocence and simplicity, where the world felt at once smaller and yet so full of possibility: When everything felt new and unexplored. Propelled by elegant piano work reminiscent of Joni Mitchell and Carole King, 'Promise to Send' offers a charming, mellow, and heartwarming soundtrack to a story built on fantasy and faraway connection." The band released lead single "Châtelet," which premiered at The Bluegrass Situation and was featured at Rolling Stone Country last summer. The song gives a voice to Voltaire's lover, Madame du Châtelet, who is often treated as just a footnote, but who was a respected philosopher in her own right.

WATCH:

LISTEN: "PROMISE TO SEND"

LISTEN: "CHÂTELET"

Tanbark began in 2011 as a long-distance songwriting collaboration between Chloe Nelson, who was studying art history in London, and James Jannicelli, a musician in Minneapolis. By 2012, they were both in the Twin Cities, where their country and folk-inspired songwriting and close vocal harmonies began to form the basis of their sound. In 2014, Tanbark headed to Los Angeles to team up in the studio with Trevor Welch. Their resulting debut, Write Soon, brought together the bareness of the duo's acoustic folk sound with a fuller, pedal-steel-and-Telecaster country sound.

After relocating to New York City later in 2014, Tanbark quickly found their place in the thriving Brooklyn music scene. The material for Tanbark started to come together, and in 2017, they enlisted engineer and musician Sam Owens (Cass McCombs, Blonde Redhead) to help bring it to life. The resulting nine songs explore themes of innocence and desire against a Laurel Canyon backdrop of pianos and guitars. Nelson's rich, delicate vocals anchor the sound as the arrangements move between Fleetwood Mac-pop and Neil Young-folk.

TOUR DATES:

6/6 - The Thing in the Spring - Peterborough, NH
6/7 - Sofar Sounds - Boston, Massachusetts
6/15 - The Pines - Mount Tremper, NY
8/1 - The Hotel Cafe - Los Angeles, CA
8/4 - Tiny Porch Concerts - Agoura Hills, CA
9/6 - Otis Mountain - Elizabethtown, NY

Photo Credit: Diana Rothery