The Radio Dept. Share New Song “The Absence of Birds,” Announce North American Tour and Pet Grief Reissue

Swedish dream-poppers The Radio Dept. shared a new track titled “The Absence of Birds” Tuesday, marking their first release since 2018. The track is embedded with dreamy nostalgia, lush in its guitars and light emotion. It’s classic The Radio Dept.: fuzzy and warm with feeling, served with just as much syrup as always. It also demonstrates a refinement in the group’s already-glossy sound. The single comes packaged with both The Radio Dept.’s original version as well as a cover version by U.K. ambient project Civilistjävel! Of the track, the band had to say:

“The Absence of Birds” is a song about missing someone. And about forcing the hand of chance to make new and unexpected things happen. There’s more to come this year, ten or more songs will be released in some way or another during 2020. Release formats to be decided from what we feel suits the songs.

The band also shared two more announcements: They’ll be embarking on a North American tour with support from Hater, and their breakout second album Pet Grief will be receiving a vinyl reissue. There will be a special run of blue transparent vinyl, as well as a standard release. Preorders for the Pet Grief reissues will begin shipping in mid-March.

You can check out the video for “The Absence of Birds” below, as well as The Radio Dept.’s upcoming tour dates.

The Radio Dept. Tour Dates:

April
26 – Washington, D.C. @ The Black Cat
27 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Union Transfer
28 – New York, N.Y. @ Webster Hall
29 – Boston, Mass. @ Brighton Music Hall
30 – Montreal, Que. @ L’Astral

May
01 – Toronto, Ont. @ The Mod Club
02 – Chicago, Ill. @ Empty Bottle
03 – St. Paul, Minn. @ Turf Club
06 – Seattle, Wash. @ Neumos
07 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Venue
08 – Portland, Ore. @ Hawthorne Theatre
10 – San Francisco, Calif. @ Great American Music Hall
11 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Fonda Theatre