Photo by Steven Simko
On March 24th, Pavement founding member Scott Kannberg will issue his first solo LP in nearly a decade. Dubbed Doris and the Diggers, it sees him reflecting on his life in the years since his debut album, 2009’s The Real Feel.
Thoughts on fatherhood and Australia (where he moved with his wife) occupy much of the intimate record. There are also a number of songs about the passing of close friends, in particular Darius Minwalla, who’d drummed on Kannberg’s previous record and joined him in the post-Pavement group Preston School of Industry.
Lead single “Dance (Cry Wolf)” explored this funereal subject matter, as does today’s newly unveiled “Exiled Tonight”, which features backing vocals from Matt Berninger of The National. “I had a dream last night/ I looked into the mirror, you were still alive,” Kannberg sings over lushly layered guitars, Minwalla firmly on his mind like a ghost. “But holed up in Tel Aviv/ The after life they made your eyes clearer, glittering white.”
In a statement to Consequence of Sound, Kannberg discussed the song’s background and creation:
“I tried to sing like Matt Berninger from The National, but of course I couldn’t, so he came and sang it with me. It was the last song I had to finish on the record. I had terrible lyrics and my engineer Dan said, ‘those suck. come back with something better’. Well, that night, I had a dream about Darius and how he was stuck in the afterlife. I think finishing this song was a sign that we could move on. Deep Water!”
Stream “Exiled Tonight” below.
Doris and the Daggers Tracklist:
01. Dance (Cry Wolf)
02. Emoshuns
03. Dundee Man
04. AWM
05. No Comparison
06. The Unconditional
07. Trams (Stole My Love)
08. Exiled Tonight
09. Angel Eyes
10. Doris and the Daggers
