By the time Dark Bird Is Home lands, nearly three years will have flown by since the last release of The Tallest Man on Earth. In that time, while Swedish singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson spread his wings across the world to captivate large audiences with his one-person show, he was also laying down new songs wherever he could in various locations — sometimes studios, sometimes barns.
Our first glimpse of Dark Bird Is Home is "Sagres," named for the remote cliff-side village in southern Portugal, a place of escape for the song's heartbroken narrator. Despite its potential loneliness, "Sagres" finds Mattson with perhaps his largest production to date. Lush orchestration holds the airy melody aloft, as violin, mandolin, acoustic and electric guitar, castanet punctuated percussion and haunting backing vocals join in the soul-searching quest.
Dark Bird Is Home is due out May 12 on Dead Oceans.
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