Westerman Shares New Single & Video “A Lens Turning”
New Album Out Friday 5th May via Partisan/ Play It Again Sam
UK / EU Tour Dates Announced
Westerman shares his final offering “A Lens Turning” from his sophomore album An Inbuilt Fault, out this Friday 5 May 2023via Partisan and Play It Again Sam. Accompanied by a music video directed and animated by Edwin Burdis, the visuals perfectly capture the song with a seemingly metaphysical character morphing to each musical shift. Through the use of colour and movement, the video mirrors the song’s ups and downs while maintaining an eerie atmosphere that reflects its ominous themes of self-doubt. The new track follows previously released singles “Take,” “CSI: Petralona” and “Idol; RE-run,” the latter which Pitchfork noted, “lingers deceptively far past its fade out.“
Whilst the lyrics and the tender traits of the vocal harmonies bring this intimacy to the landscape, the actual array of bold percussive elements, layers of oozy patterns, and rhythmic pushes, all entwine to make this bright, colourful composition. The atmosphere alludes to this charming feel, elevated, lighter somehow. And whilst the darker lyrics add this contrast, Westerman unites the soundscape with this immersive emphasis, divided by the brooding content to the fluctuating hooks. The swirling notes bring this immediate experimental push to the exploration whilst the harmonies compel this affectionate and soulful resonance.
Additionally, Westerman has announced a headline UK and European tour starting in October and going into mid-November. The tour kicks off with a run of nine UK dates including London’s Hackney Church on 26 October 2023, followed by a European run. These shows will follow his first North American tour in four years that starts this week. Tickets for the UK and European shows will go on sale this Friday May 5th here and you can find full tour routing below.
An Inbuilt Fault encapsulates some of the most adventurous and unselfconscious songwriting of Westerman’s career with music that is heavier and more sonically daring than his previous releases. While first working solo through a period of isolation in Italy in 2020 and 2021, a chance meeting with Big Thief’s James Krivchenia at a show in London changed this. Westerman decided to take a leap of faith and collaborate with the drummer and an extended crew of Los Angeles associates to flesh out his new songs. The Italy demos became jumpoff points for jams which, in imaginatively edited forms, pushed the songs into new affective realms; sometimes, the mood became more sinister, sometimes more triumphant. Throughout the album, Westerman abstracts his specific points of inspiration into invented scenes featuring multiple characters (sometimes distinguished with vocal effects or alternate vocal ranges) and allows his most broad-strokes universal sentiments to dominate the foreground. The result is his own mini-epic about being in crisis, stitched together from torn song fragments and spontaneous moments of musical exorcism, which combine to tell a story that takes clearer shape with repeated listens.
The album artwork is by the renowned New York via Portugal graphic designer and illustrator Bráulio Amado, who Westerman has had a long standing relationship with. Bráulio Amado and Westerman worked together for the artwork on Westerman’s previous debut album as well.
In 2020, Westerman released his debut album Your Hero Is Not Dead, a graceful and self-reflective project described as “excellent” by Pitchfork, that continued the artist’s journey from pop maverick to one of the most vital voices coming out of the UK. Your Hero Is Not Dead features the stand-out songs, “The Line”, “Your Hero Is Not Dead,” “Waiting on Design,” “Think I’ll Stay” and “Blue Comanche” and is the follow-up to his critically-acclaimed Ark EP.
Upcoming Live Dates
North America:6/5 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
7/5 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
9/5 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
10/5 – Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s
14/5 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
16/5 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry
17/5 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
19/5 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
20/5 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB
21/5 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
23/5 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
24/5 – Philadelphia, PA @Johnny Brenda’s
26/5 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
27/5 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle – Back Room
28/5 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
30/5 – Austin, TX @ Antone’s Nightclub
31/5 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
2/6 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
3/6 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
UK and Europe:
14/10 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast
15/10 – Edinburgh, UK @ Mash House
17/10 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
18/10 – Manchester, UK @ Canvas
19/10 – Dublin, Ireland @ Whelan’s
21/10 – Nottingham, UK @ Bodega
22/10 – Cardiff, UK @ SWN Festival
23/10 – Bristol, UK @ Echange
25/10 – Brighton, UK @ Komedia
26/10 – London, UK @ Hackney Church
28/10 – Paris, France @ La Boule Noire
30/10 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Bitterzoet
31/10 – Brussels, Belgium @ AB Club
1/11 – Cologne, Germany @ Helios37
2/11 – Hamburg, Germany @ Turmzimmer
3/11 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Small Vega
5/11 – Oslo, Norway @ Parkteatret
6/11 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Nalen Klubb
8/11 – Warsaw, Poland @ Hydrozagadka
9/11 – Berlin, Germany @ Berghain Kantine
11/11 – Vienna, Austria @ Rote Bar at Volkstheater
12/11 – Munich, Germany @ Milla
13/11 – Lugano, Switzerland @ Studio Foce
14/11 – Dudingen, Switzerland @ Bad Bonn
16/11 – Milan, Italy @ Biko
17/11 – Bologna, Italy @ Covo Club
An Inbuilt Fault
Westerman
Partisan Records
May 5 2023
Pre-order / pre-save here
1. Give
2. Idol; RE-run
3. I, Catullus
4. CSI Petralona
5. Help Didn’t Help At All
6. A Lens Turning
7. Take
8. An Inbuilt Fault
9. Pilot Was A Dancer
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