Long-time Lefort fave Laura Veirs will release her new album The Lookout on April 13th on Raven Marching Band Records. After debuting the album’s impressive single Everybody Needs You (listen below), Veirs today has shared new song Watch Fire featuring Sufjan Stevens. Check it out below along with the song’s lyrics at bottom.  About the new song, Veirs has said:

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard wolves howling in the wild but there’s no mistaking their sound. It’s nothing like the howling of wind; it’s much more eerie and sinister. “Watch Fire” is about protecting the vulnerable among us and how I feel vulnerable, too, in this political climate. You can hear that in the lyric ‘underneath this dome of red / white dog circling overhead.’ It was an honor to have Sufjan sing on this track as I admire him a lot. I heard his voice on this song when I wrote it. We’ve been friends for a long time and he’s given me quite a few artistic pep talks over the years. I sang on his Carrie & Lowell sessions so it’s nice to have him on my record this time around.”

According to the album’s PR release: “The Lookout is a soundtrack for turbulent times, full of allusions to protectors: the camper stoking a watch fire, a mother tending her children, a sailor in a crow’s nest and a lightning rod channeling energy.”

Veirs has this to say about her new album: “The Lookout is about the need to pay attention to the fleeting beauty of life and to not be complacent; it’s about the importance of looking out for each other. I’m addressing what’s happening around me with the chaos of post-election America, the racial divides in our country, and a personal reckoning with the realities of midlife: I have friends who’ve died; I struggle with how to balance life as an artist with parenting young children.”

Based on the two songs released from it so far, and following in the impressive wake of her album with Neko Case and kd Lang, case/lang/veirs, The Lookout is highly anticipated at Chez Lefort.

You can pre-0rder The Lookout HERE.

Watch Fire:

“Just beyond the circle of light
(I’ll keep the watch)
(I’ll keep the watch fire)
What’s in the gloom
In the thorns and the briar?
(I’ll keep the watch)
(I’ll keep the watch fire)

There’s no mistaking the wolf for the wind
He’s been here before
And he’ll be here again

In my dream I ground my jaw
(I’ll keep the watch)
(I’ll keep the watch fire)
I’ll be the good man outside the law
(I’ll keep the watch)
(I’ll keep the watch fire)

There’s no mistaking the wolf for the wind
He’s been here before
And he’ll be here again

Underneath this dome of red
(I’ll keep the watch)
(I’ll keep the watch fire)
White dog circling overhead
(I’ll keep the watch)
(I’ll keep the watch fire)

There’s no mistaking the wolf for the wind
He’s been here before
And he’ll be here again

There’s no mistaking the wolf for the wind
He’s been here before
And he’ll be here again”

In the wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Americans seem to have finally galvanized behind a powerful and heartbreaking speech given by that school’s Emma Gonzalez (you can watch it HERE) and the outcry and actions from her classmates and countless other students and parents across the nation against the maleficent inability of our political “leaders” to meaningfully control guns in America. The madness must end or be meaningfully reduced! No other nation suffers a similar affliction! The damnable NRA gun-manufacturers’ lobby must be stopped and its political prostitutes (see one list HERE) must pay for the blood on their complicit hands. Let’s not let this just be one more in an endless string of shootings and killings. Let’s cut the cord. Come one, come all and march on March 24th, April 20th and any and all other days necessary towards this goal. Let’s work to register voters and then get out the vote to toss out the NRA’s political henchmen and begin to make meaningful change.

In the aftermath of this latest atrocity, we were struck (yet again) over the weekend by a performance by the PS22 Chorus. This time of their take on The Pretenders’ I’ll Stand By You (lyrics at bottom). Watch it below in all its sweet glory. And then imagine these innocent children slaughtered by yet another automatic-weapons wielding psychopath. Yes, it seems unimaginable. But in America, as sure as the day becomes night, if we don’t throw out the NRA’s accomplices and things don’t meaningfully change, Parkland (following Sandy Hook, Columbine, etc. ad nauseam) will happen again. And again. Let’s not let that happen!

“Oh, why you look so sad, the tears are in your eyes,
Come on and come to me now, and don’t be ashamed to cry,
Let me see you through, ’cause I’ve seen the dark side too.
When the night falls on you, you don’t know what to do,
Nothing you confess could make me love you less,

I’ll stand by you,
I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you,
I’ll stand by you

So if you’re mad, get mad, don’t hold it all inside,
Come on and talk to me now.
Hey there, what you got to hide?
I get angry too, well, I’m alive like you.
When you’re standing at the cross roads,
And don’t know which path to choose,
Let me come along, ’cause even if you’re wrong

I’ll stand by you,
I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you,
I’ll stand by you.
Baby, even to your darkest hour, and I’ll never desert you,
I’ll stand by you.
And when, when the night falls on you baby,
You’re feeling all a lone, you’re wandering on your own,
I’ll stand by you.

I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you,
I’ll stand by you, baby even to your darkest hour,
And I’ll never desert you,
I’ll stand by you,
I’ll stand by you.
I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you,
I’ll stand by you, baby even to your darkest hour,
And I’ll never desert you
I’ll stand by you”

Frank Ocean’s indelible music can creep up on you like, well, a moon rising over a river.  First you’re engrossed by the enlightening hues of his vocals, followed by the shimmering effects thereon. It’s a winning package repeatedly borne out on his recordings. This week Ocean released (on Valentine’s Day) his winsome, yet world-weary, take on the moody chestnut Moon River written by the masterful Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. The song was originally heard in the sad, sad film Breakfast at Tiffany’s and made most famous by crooner Andy Williams. Check out Ocean’s superb cover of the song below, followed by the song’s breathy cover by Audrey Hepburn in the movie, and Williams’ worthy take. The song has been covered by countless artists, but Ocean’s takes it to the heavens.

Woke on Monday morning and found a reason to get out of bed. Long-time Lefort-faves, Okkervil River, this morning announced the release of their next album In the Rainbow Rain in April, following on the heals of their superb last album Away.  To get a feel, check out below the swaggering swing of new song, Don’t Move Back to LA (that drops a bit of dub in the break). The intermittently hilarious lyrics are at bottom (our best guess). The song bodes incredibly well for the new album. We can’t wait!

Today, leader Will Sheff posted this explanatoin regarding the song: “I had pretty straightforward reasons for writing this song: I had a lot of friends all moving to LA around the same time and I didn’t want them to go. I think the song is also me rooting for myself to get out of NYC, and I feel like it’s also kind of about how you could make your hometown cooler if you went back and fought to elevate it. But one fun audio fact is that this is a first take. We recorded it once, it sounded good and we moved on to the next song.”

Sheff also has this to say about the impending album:

“This time around everyone was in such a good mood that the music ended up capturing this new spirit of freedom and playfulness and joy and sounding totally different than Away, even though my working approach was similar. I didn’t really fight it, because everything felt so good. It was a really happy and productive period of music-making during a very terrifying (and ongoingly terrifying) time period, and I felt like it was appropriate to try to make something uplifting and encouraging. As ever, the band is augmented with all of these great players including string arrangements by Rob Moose, Frank LoCrasto and Jared Samuel on keys, Sharon Jones’ backup singer Saundra Williams leading a vocal trio, Alex Spiegelman on sax and Cole Kamen-Green on trumpet, the legendary Jonathan Meiburg of course, and my good old inanimate friend Mr. CR-78 laying down some rhythms here and there. The whole thing was mixed by the incredible Shawn Everett with crazy bold hairy technicolor bravado. I’m so proud of this thing – it’s maybe the most fun Okkervil River record ever. And it’s going to be great playing it live.”

Speaking of which, new tour dates can be found HERE . The tour will include dates in Cali in late-May/early-June, where it’s 70 out and we’re living at the ocean’s lip.  Tix go on sale this Friday, 2/16. Whatever you do, don’t miss ’em. Their last two tours through these parts have been inspirational affairs.

You can pre-order In the Rainbow Room HERE.

Don’t Move Back to LA:

“Don’t move back to LA
Don’t move back to LA
Don’t move back to LA
Although it’s 70 out
Don’t move back to LA
You got a bigger house
Don’t move back to LA
I know you’re sober now
Don’t move back to LA, my baby
In your place out in LA, my baby

I’m gonna send this out to Mistress Smike [?]
She knows who she is and what I like
I’m gonna send this out to Susan Sneeze
I’m gonna say thirty rosaries
I’m gonna tell her

Don’t move back to LA
Don’t get your license back
Don’t move back to LA
Don’t cut your in-take back
Don’t move back to LA
You think it’s bad?
It’s actually worse out in LA, my baby

‘Cause those West Coast cats
They’re gonna tune, gonna turn, gonna turn, gonna turn you out
They’re gonna chew you up and spit you out
They’re gonna break, gonna break, gonna break, gonna break you down
They’re gonna waste your time and watch you drown
They’re gonna make, gonna make, gonna make, gonna make you die
You say I lost my soul or sold it out
But I told you, I warned you
I told you, I warned you
I told you now

Well, in two more weeks I’ll drop this track
And you can have your New York City back
Well, I will send this out to Space Camp Chip
I saw him living on the ocean’s lip
And I will send this to a lone Hot Crisp
He might not agree, but I’ll insist

And I will tell him
Don’t move back to LA
I said I’ll move back to LA
You got a midwest song so sing it out
Don’t move back to LA
You got a deep south song so sing it out
Don’t move back to LA
You got a mountain song, just sing it out
I got a east coast song, I’ll sing it out
Don’t move back to LA
I won’t move back to LA
my baby
Don’t move back to LA

They’re gonna tune, gonna tune, gonna tune, gonna tune you out
Don’t move back to LA
You got a beach state song, country state song, wolverine state song
They’re gonna break, gonna break, gonna break, gonna break you down
Don’t move back to LA
So sing it out
Or fight it out, sing it out
They’re gonna make, gonna make, gonna make, gonna make you die
Oh
Don’t move back to LA”