The Good Life will release Everybody’s Coming Down – their fifth full-length album and first in eight years – on August 14, 2015 via Saddle Creek. Everybody’s Coming Down is available for pre-order via the Saddle Creek webstore and iTunes, with “Everybody” coming as an instant grat download with purchase.
Everybody’s Coming Down marks a vibrant sonic evolution for The Good Life. The album fully expresses the band perhaps more so than any previous release, combining and reflecting each member’s nature and strengths: drummer Roger L. Lewis’s love of classic rock, multi-instrumentalist Ryan Fox’s chaotic approach to melody, Stefanie Drootin-Senseney’s propulsive yet tuneful bass parts, and Tim Kasher’s deft, complementary song writing. Viscerally hitting songs like rollercoasting anthem “Everybody” and the boisterous “Holy Shit” sit alongside psychedelic-tinged rock like “Flotsam Locked Into A Groove” and the ambient, atmospheric “Diving Bell,” as well as The Good Life’s now-known lyrical, folk-indebted pop (“The Troubadour’s Green Room,” “Midnight Is Upon Us”). Lyrically, Everybody’s Coming Down is an engrossing, contemplative mix that touches on existential and cosmic queries, ruminations on regrets and self-worth, and the power of memory versus experience.
The Good Life’s last album, Help Wanted Nights, was released in 2007 and earned the band press attention from outlets including Alternative Press, The AV Club, Big Takeover, CMJ, Paste, Pitchfork, and Under The Radar, among others. After touring in support of the record, and playing a handful of June 2010 shows, the band dispersed to focus on other projects – Cursive and solo albums for Kasher, Big Harp for Drootin-Senseney, the bands Conduits and Oquoa for Lewis, and solo material and a tape label, Majestic Litter, for Fox – but always planned to regroup for another album.
Everybody’s Coming Down was written mainly in late 2014, and The Good Life played a few shows that August, October, and December to road-test some of the new songs. Recording began in January 2015 at Omaha’s ARC studios and finished in the quartet’s respective homes, which are scattered across the US: Chicago, IL (Kasher), Omaha, NE (Lewis), Los Angeles, CA (Drootin-Senseney), and Portland, OR (Fox). The band then traveled to Dallas, TX to mix with John Congleton (St. Vincent, Baroness, Angel Olsen, Cloud Nothings) at his Elmwood Recording. A full track listing and cover artwork are below.
Following an August 15th performance at the Maha Music Festival in Omaha, NE, The Good Life will embark on a US headlining tour beginning on August 18th at the Turf Club in St. Paul, MN. The dates continue through September 6th in Iowa City, IA; a current itinerary is below and more dates will be announced soon.
Everybody’s Coming Down track listing:
- 7 in the Morning
- Everybody
- The Troubadour’s Green Room
- Holy Shit
- Flotsam Locked into a Groove
- Forever Coming Down
- Happy Hour
- Diving Bell
- Skeleton Song
- How Small We Are
- Ad Nausea
- Midnight Is Upon Us
The Good Life tour dates:
AUG. 15 OMAHA, NE MAHA MUSIC FESTIVAL
AUG. 18 ST. PAUL, MN TURF CLUB*
AUG. 19 CHICAGO, IL LINCOLN HALL*
AUG. 20 FERNDALE, MI LOVING TOUCH*
AUG. 21 CLEVELAND, OH GROG SHOP*
AUG. 22 WASHINGTON, DC ROCK & ROLL HOTEL*
AUG. 23 PHILADELPHIA, PA BOOT & SADDLE*
AUG. 26 BOSTON, MA THE SINCLAIR*
AUG. 27 NEW YORK, NY BOWERY BALLROOM*
AUG. 29 CARRBORO, NC CAT’S CRADLE – BACK ROOM*
SEPT. 1 ORLANDO, FL THE SOCIAL*
SEPT. 4 NASHVILLE, TN HIGH WATT*
SEPT. 5 ST. LOUIS, MO OFF BROADWAY*
SEPT. 6 IOWA CITY, IA GABES*
*Big Harp supports