GRAMMY-Award winners Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit announced today the upcoming release of their eighth album, Weathervanes, out June 9 via Southeastern Records/Thirty Tigers. Written and produced by Isbell, Weathervanes features 13 brand new tracks. “Death Wish,” the debut release from the collection, is available now. Stream “Death Wish” HERE.
Also announced today, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit will be hitting the road throughout the summer with additional headline dates and festivals. The 2023 tour includes a return to Cincinnati, OH for a two-night run at The Andrew J Brady Music Center on Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29 with special guest Amythyst Kiah.
Weathervanes is a collection of grown-up songs: Songs about adult love, about change, about the danger of nostalgia and the interrogation of myths, about cruelty and regret and redemption. Some will make you cry alone in your car and others will make you sing along with thousands of strangers in a big summer pavilion, united in the great miracle of being alive. Isbell is a storyteller at the peak of his craft, observing his fellow wanderers, looking inside and trying to understand, reducing a universe to four minutes.
“There is something about boundaries on this record,” said Isbell. “As you mature, you still attempt to keep the ability to love somebody fully and completely while you’re growing into an adult and learning how to love yourself.”
“Death Wish” is about being in love with someone suffering from depression, with a powerful universal undercurrent about the fragility of life and the power and limits of love. That grown-up kind of love. Musically the track is beautiful and fascinating. Now it feels complicated and intricate, yet never fragile, like the subject of the song itself. As the first track it announces that Isbell is an artist growing, exploring new musical frontiers. The Sylvia Massy-added strings make it bold and ambitious, with the cinematic tone of a Bond theme.
“Oh and did you ever love a woman with a death wish
Something in her eyes like flipping off a light switch
Everybody dies but you gotta find a reason to carry on
Oh and did you ever catch her climbing on the rooftop
Higher than a kite, dead of winter in a tank top
I don’t wanna fight with you baby but I won’t leave you alone”
Pre-save Weathervanes HERE
Weathervanes was recorded at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio and features Isbell’s GRAMMY-winning band, the 400 Unit: Derry deBorja (Acoustic Piano, Electric Piano, Organ, Accordion, Synthesizers, Therevox, TackPiano, Background Vocals), Chad Gamble (Drums, Percussion, Congas), Jimbo Hart (Electric Bass, Bass), and Sadler Vaden (Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Electric 12 String, Acoustic 12 String, Background Vocals). Special guests include GRAMMY winner Amanda Shires (Fiddle, Background Vocals) and acclaimed harmonicist Mickey Raphael (Harmonica on “Strawberry Woman”) with Background Vocals on “If You Insist“ by renowned producer and engineer Sylvia Massy & Ian Rickard and Strings on “Death Wish” by Morgan O’Shaughnessey.
