What happens when you combine two great bands like The National and Beirut? LNZNDRF happens. The name is a combination of collaborators Ben Lanz (Beirut) and brothers Scott and Bryan Devendorf (The National), minus vowels. Today, they announced their debut record, also called LNZNDRF, due out Feb. 19 via 4AD. From the release:
LNZNDRF’s debut is rock minimalism meets sonic maximalism. Recorded in a church in Cincinnati over two and a half days, the eight songs on the album were improvised with a vital spirit harking back to the reason the members became musicians in the first place. The songs, which were edited from 30+ minute jams, evoke the essence of their expansive, largely improvised live shows.
Albums recorded in churches are automatically great, right? In any case, the songs they’ve made available to the public so far have been great, and definitely meet the “rock minimalism/sonic maximalism” criteria. You can listen to “Beneath the Black Sea” above, and at the bottom of this post, check out two other songs from the album, “Mt. Storm” and “Kind Things.”
Here’s the album track list:
1. Future You
2. Beneath the Black Sea
3. Mt. Storm
4. Kind Things
5. Hypno-Skate
6. Stars and Time
7. Monument
8. Samarra
Cover art:
The band also announced a handful of Tour dates:
Feb. 19 — London, England – Oslo
Feb. 21 — Brussels, Belgium – Botanique-Rotonde
Feb. 23 — Berlin, Germany – Grüner Salon
Feb. 25 — Berlin, Germany – Kantine am Berghain
Feb. 26 — Berlin, Germany – Cassiopeia
Mar. 05 — New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
Here are the other two tracks they released on YouTube: