Kevin Morby Announces new Album 'This Is A Photograph' & Shares Title Track

Kieran Webber

Founder of CLUNK Magazine. Normally found hunched over his desk searching for new music.

Kevin Morby returns with news of his seventh studio album ‘This Is A Photograph’, out May 13th via Dead Oceans

Kevin Morby has announced his new album ‘This Is A Photograph’ which is set for release May 13th via Dead Oceans. It’s the artists seventh studio album and follows 2020’s ‘Sundowner’.

The album was written during a emotional and turmolous time for the artist, although through the pain there is some eye watering beauty. At a family dinner Kevin Morbey‘s father collapsed, needed medical assistance and a trip to the hospital. As this moment lay fresh in his mind and body, he found himself searching through an old box of photographs, one in particular stood out. It was of his father, looking strong, proud, and confident. As Kevin explains: “In the photo he looks young and full of confidence, puffing his chest out at the camera as if he were looking for a fight,” explains Morby. “It was not lost on me that this was the same chest, just hours before, I had seen the ambulance put a stethoscope against as he lay on the kitchen floor of my sister’s house.”

As his father regained his strength Morby moved to Memphis, specifically the Peabody Hotel. There he would ponder life, death, and tread the ground of his idols. He would regularly head down the Mississippi river, to the spot where Jeff Buckley met his end. He’d wander around the neighbourhood where Jay Reatard spent his last day then drive by the Stax marquee for a brief lift in his spirits. It was a true soul searching experience for the singer-songwriter.

In the evening, he would return to his room and document his ideas on a makeshift recording set-up, with just his guitar and a microphone. The songs, elegiac in nature, befitting all he had seen, poured out of him.

With the help of Sam Cohen (who produced ‘Singing Saw’ and ‘Oh My God’) they put together ‘This is A Photograph’, an album that is teasing to be Morby’s Magnum Opus.

The titled single is an upbeat number, bringing forward a much desired energy from Morby. It’s a celebration and you can feel this throughout the release. It’s simply put, a beautiful single. It still carries his mellowed out vocals that Kevin is known for, with an extra dose of energy in the racing guitar.

Check the music video (directed by Chantal Anderson) here: