Muzz Announce New Self-Titled Album and Share Single, “Red Western Sky”

Muzz, the collaboration from Josh Kaufman (producer/multi-instrumentalist and Bonny Light Horseman member), Paul Banks of Interpol and Matt Barrick of Jonathan Fire*Eater (and touring Fleet Foxes drummer), just announced a self-titled debut album, due out from Matador on June 5, according to a press release. The group has also shared a new single and accompanying music video, “Red Western Sky.”

The band directed and produced the video, which they shot at American Treasure Tour Museum in Pennsylvania, amid an eclectic mix of vintage cars, toys and creepy clowns. The somber “Red Western Sky” follows recent releases “Bad Feeling” and “Broken Tambourine.”

Kaufman discusses Muzz’s sound, saying, “the music has this weird, super removed vibe but is also personal and emotional at the same time.” He adds, “If something felt natural in a simple way, we left it. I’d never heard Paul’s voice framed like that—a string section, horns, guitars—we know none of that is visionary but it felt classic and kind of classy.”

The band’s name holds a special meaning for Kaufman, who used the word “muzz” to describe the music’s “subtle, analog quality and texture,” per the press statement.

Banks says, “Ultimately, the music speaks for itself.” He adds, “We have a genuine, organic artistic chemistry together. It’s partly a shared musical taste from youth, as with me and Josh, but then it’s also the souls of my friends that resonate with me when expressed through music. I think it’s cosmic.”

Checkout the “Red Western Sky” video below, followed by the Muzz tracklist and album art.

Muzz Tracklist:

1. Bad Feeling
2. Evergreen
3. Red Western Sky
4. Patchouli
5. Everything Like It Used To Be
6. Broken Tambourine
7. Knuckleduster
8. Chubby Checker
9. How Many Days
10. Summer Love
11. All Is Dead To Me
12. Trinidad

Muzz Album Art: