Former Girls singer Christopher Owens yesterday released his critically-acclaimed first solo album Lysandre on Turnstile/Fat Possum.  You can buy/stream the album HERE.  We loved San Francisco band Girls (and especially their live show at modest Muddy Waters in December 2008) so the anticipation for Lysandre has been high at Chez Lefort.

The album was evidently written, recorded and sequenced as a depiction of Girls’ first tour in the summer of 2008.  Owens has described Lysandre as “a coming of age story, a road trip story, a love story.” Written largely in one creative stint and recorded with Girls producer Doug Boehm, Lysandre follows Owens from San Francisco to New York City and on to the French Riviera before a melancholy return home.

In some ways Lysandre is not a huge departure from Girls (with fuzz guitar, Owens’ sympathetic vocals and compellingly confessional lyrics), but in other ways it is.  There’s more of a Brit-pop feel to it (with flutes ferheavensake, as first heard on single Here We Go).  And there’s a far cleaner production overall with (for better or worse) some of the great Girls’ grit scrubbed off.  As you’ll hear, there’s more variety on Lysandre than on Girls’ albums.  A Broken Heart sounds like early Rolling Stones balladry, while Riviera Rock is (to fit the title?) cocktail-loungey, reggae-jazz dub.  The album’s title track borders on ’60s bubble-gum pop (with plenty of flute), but is followed by the beautiful heartbreak balladry of Everywhere You Knew.  The album ends well with Part of Me with its Gentle-On-My-Mind intro and subsequent gentle-jangle (there’s that flute again).  Christopher Owens is on a solo journey that merits your attention.

Owens and his 7-piece Lysandre band are heading out on tour starting tonight in Chicago, and have just added West Coast dates in March that go on sale this week.  Note the unique West Coast venues in the list below.

2013 US Tour Dates

January 15                 Chicago, IL                          Lincoln Hall
January 16                Ferndale, MI                        Magic Bag
January 18                Toronto, ON                         The Mod Club
January 19                Montreal,  QC                       Cabaret Du Mile-End
January 21                New York, NY                      Bowery Ballroom
January 22                New York, NY                      Bowery Ballroom
January 25                Boston, MA                           Paradise Rock Club
January 26                Philadelphia, PA                 Union Transfer
January 27                Washington, DC                  9:30 Club

March 21                  San Diego, CA                        Irenic
March 22                 Los Angeles, CA                    Wilshire Ebell Theatre
March 23                 San Francisco, CA                Palace of Fine Arts
March 25                 Santa Cruz, CA                       Rio Theatre
March 28                 Seattle, WA                             Neptune
March 29                 Vancouver, BC                      Biltmore Cabaret
March 30                 Portland, OR                          Star Theater
March 31                  Eugene, OR                            WOW Hall