After a 3 year hiatus, Wheat has just announced a 5/22/07 release date for their new album, Every Day I Said A Prayer for Kathy and Made a One Inch Square. If the album title is any indication, these guys are back to their old form and looking to get weird.
I had totally forgotten about Wheat until I received a mass email from their new label, Empyrean Records, announcing the release date and giving a little background on the new album. From the sound of things, Wheat is getting back to their roots. While their 2003 release, Per Second, Per Second, Per Second¦Every Second was their most accessible, it lacked the misty, dreamy quality of their outstanding 1999 release, Hope and Adams.
But have no fear, Empyrean is back to touting Wheat as an “art project” – something the band proclaimed when they formed in the late 90′s. I don’t know about you, but other than the random kid occasionally projectile-vomiting all over his desk, I have pretty good memories of grade school art projects. All signs point to another exceptional “art project” from Wheat.
Check out the below MP3 from their most recent EP, “That’s Exactly What I Wanted¦Exactly That”, released in December 2006.
Wheat – What Everyone Keeps Telling Me
They’re also on tour out east:
3/31/07 at TT The Bears in Boston, MA
4/28/07 at North Star in Philadelphia, PA
4/29/07 at Mercury Lounge in New York, NY
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
“Per Second …” is one of the best albums I’ve heard in the past ten years, so I’m disappointed to see on Wheat’s MySpace page that they seem embarrassed by it a little bit, as if Aware/Columbia made them compromise their vision. “Per Second …” has great, heavens-parting pop songs that also contain their fair share of quirks. I love love love this album. “Medeiros” and “Hope and Adams,” Wheat’s first two albums, have their moments, but overall they’re a little dull to me. Wheat can do whatever they want, of course — more power to them — but I wish they’d embrace their pop side more, because they’re damn good at what they do when they put their minds to it (or when they’re forced to put their minds to it).
I’m going to have to second that, Robert. I love LOVE “Per Second…” – a truly great album, and one the band should be proud of in all respects. I am curious to see how the newest album sounds, and this MP3 leaves me wanting to hear a bit more.
PS. – Right after I bought their album a few years ago, I was pumped to go see them in concert and searched their website for some dates, only to find they had just broken up! So, moments ago, I was very excited to see them touring again via my Filter Boston Newsletter…I may have even squealed a little.