John Carroll Kirby releases his new solo album ‘Blowout’, inspired by time spent in Costa Rica playing with local musicians and imagining “failed utopias”.
Blowout’s title teeters between its two definitions – both a moment of destruction and one big party. In Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, Kirby contemplated episodes of collective madness or delusion, such as Fyre Festival and the Heaven’s Gate cult, imagining “a festival where everyone gets beamed up to utopia or heaven instead of starving or dying unfulfilled.” He wrote the album in Costa Rica and recorded it in Los Angeles, with a stripped-down band of percussion, flute, and drums joining Kirby on keys.
‘Mates’ is the ecstatic soundtrack to Kirby and pals rolling deep to the festival, ‘Sun Go Down’ is the soundtrack to a dazzling sunset, and ‘Oropendola’ and ‘Gecko Sound’ echo Costa Rica’s nature. There’s a darker side too: ‘Vertigo’ is named for a vestibular system condition that makes Kirby dizzy and nauseous; ‘The Takedown’ imagines a “sinister drug sting,” and ‘Hotel Jonny Chingas’ pictures a seedy sex motel run by elusive Chicano legend Jonny Chingas.
The album’s joyfulness is alloyed with melancholy: “I love the concept of saudade,” Kirby says. “For every moment of elation, there’s a certain sadness embedded in the feeling because we know it will come to an end. Blowout is about enjoying yourself even though life is tough, before the candle blows out.”
While less explicitly spiritual than Kirby’s earlier records, Blowout considers the mysteries of the universe via an irreverent path – think Haruomi Hosono, Sun Ra, or Laraaji. Kirby says, “I’m trying to use imagination in music to create my own myths, and keep things playful and funny and not too sanctimonious.” With its refreshing breeziness, warmth, and blend of humor and devotion, Blowout brings together all the elements that make John Carroll Kirby’s music so addictive.
John Carroll Kirby on Tour:
July 30 – Niigata, JP – Fuji Rock †
Aug 5 – Shanghai – YongFoo Elite †
Aug 18 – Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
Aug 24 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
Aug 26 – Port Townsend, WA – Thing Festival
Sep 13 – Chicago, IL – Sleeping Village
Sep 15 – St Paul, MN – Turf Club
† with Eddie Chacon
Blowout Tracklist
1. Oropendola
2. Mates
3. The Takedown
4. Hotel Jonny Chingas
5. Vertigo
6. So So So
7. Sun Go Down
8. Gecko Sound
9. Flying Cat
10. Mates (Dub)
11. So So So (Dub)
12. Hotel Jonny Chingas (Dub)
