The Fire Sermon is out now in Europe, and if you live there you can find it on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, and all the rest of the normal digital music outlets. If you live in North America, the album will be coming out on June 2nd, but you can already preview the first four tracks and pre-order physical copies of the album from Bandcamp!
“Cashmere” and Europe
The first single from the upcoming new album, The Fire Sermon, is here! Beginning Friday, March 31st you can stream and download “Cashmere” on Spotify, Bandcamp, iTunes, and all the rest. The album releases on May 5th in Europe and on June 2nd in the United States, and the release shows begin in Europe: 
20.4 – Roisin Dubh, Galway, Ireland 21.4 – Mullarkeys Bar Clifden, Clifden, Ireland 22.4 – JJ Harlows Bar, Roscommon, Ireland 23.4 – The Harbour Bar, Bray, Ireland 24.4 – Mick Murphy’s, Ballymore Eustace, Ireland 25.4 – Spirit Store, Dundalk, Ireland 26.4 – The Wight Bear Ale House, Bournemouth, UK 27.4 – The Running Horse, Nottingham, UK 28.4 – Sir John Moore Found., Appleby Magna, UK 29.4 – Thimblemill Library, Smethwick, UK 30.4 – The Greystones, Sheffield, UK 01.5 – BGA House Concert, London, UK 02.5 – Brigant, Arnhem, The Netherlands 03.5 – café de loge, Ghent, Belgium 04.5 – Kulturcafe Lichtung, Cologne, Germany 05.5 – Kasseturm, Weimar, Germany 06.5 – House Concert, Böllenborn, Germany 07.5 – Zimmer 16, Berlin, Germany 09.5 – Cafe Prinz Willy, Kiel, Germany More details over at the calendar page.
The Fire Sermon
Visit the Kickstarter project to learn more
I have been writing love songs lately, specifically about the kinds of romantic love that burn. Namely, all of them. When we first enter a new relationship we are filled with burning desire. Sometimes we later take those same relationships for granted and seemingly burn right through them. At the end we might find ourselves literally burning old love notes, or simply bridges, which turns out to be an excellent time to listen to that fire in our bellies. Hit the road, see something new, spend time on ourselves before striking a new match.
This album and these songs are partially my story, partially your story, partially his story, and partially her story. THE FIRE SERMON presents ten brand new songs, each of them about relationships in different places, while also suggesting a larger album-long narrative for the listener to discover.
This past summer while backpacking in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming I spent several afternoon thunderstorms huddled in the tent, trying to make some sense of the lengthy and heavily-annotated poem, The Wasteland, by T.S. Eliot. (I’d needed a really light book for the sake of the weight on my back, but light reading it was not.) I was particularly taken with the third section of the poem, entitled “The Fire Sermon”, with endnotes informing me that the name was taken from “a sermon by the Buddha denouncing the fires of passion, hatred, and infatuation with which the senses burn.” At the very end of the section Eliot simply repeats, “Burning burning burning burning.”
While the album has been recorded and paid for up to this point, there is much to pay for yet, including:
* Mixing
* Mastering
* Pressing physical copies – both CD and Vinyl
* Artwork
* Website re-design
* Publicity
* Radio campaign
As for the pre-order and the other associated rewards, there are a couple of exciting things worth pointing out:
* All orders (with the exception of the digital-only $10 level) will come with a special 8-song EP which will only be available to Kickstarter backers. This EP features 6 alternate acoustic versions of songs from the new record, and 2 entirely new songs that did not make the cut this time around. Half of them are solo and the other half feature Melissa McGinley (The Stereofidelics) on fiddle and harmonies. These recordings will never be released in any other fashion.
* You will notice a limited amount of earlybird-priced copies of both the CD and LP (vinyl). Save $3 on either and order early!
Thank you so much for your support!
John
