Dears Have New Album And Lineup

The Dears have posted a new song called "Meltdown In A Major" on their website, and singer/guitarist Murray Lightburn has written a MySpace blog update on what's happening in the Montreal band's world.

"The new Dears album has been completed since April," wrote Lightburn. "It is called MISSILES.

"We have been wandering around the music industry wilderness the whole time, trying to secure a release date for the Fall. It's getting pretty f***ed out there. We thought very seriously about doing it ourselves. But that just wasn't realistic at all. Not in the least. And our relationships with Bella Union and Arts & Crafts had run their course. So at the 11th hour, in walked Dangerbird. Our beloved MapleMusic Recordings is still there for us and will release the record in Canada while Dangerbird Records will release it everywhere else. Should be an interesting/entertaining journey.

"We want to bring you this record whole and still warm. It's beautiful; that is the only way to describe it. A blues album, essentially. It's also long and kind of paced for love making, because that really makes everything better. 58 minutes, 16 seconds, 10 songs. One song is over 11 minutes, just like the old days. Come October, we encourage you to seek it out; it is worth every penny and all the dough just goes back into making more records, not buying solid gold houses. Thanks, in advance.

"We had quite an experience making it and by the end, only Natalia and I were left. The band line up as you've known has come to a close and now it's just as it was when we began: Natalia and I, looking after every aspect ourselves. Trust us when we say it is for the best. The music, philosophy — the art has been preserved with fervency. The Dears not are but is. In our mind it always has been that way, the sum of parts to create one vision. Or something like that. Personally, we feel fortunate to have a role in the birthing of every tune, in its arrival from the cosmos."

With the departure of guitarist Patrick Krief, drummer George Donoso, keyboardist Valerie Jodoin-Keaton and bassist Martin Pelland, Lightburn and his keyboard-playing, background-singing wife Natalia Yanchak have found five other musicians to round out the new-look Dears. They're rehearsing for still-unannounced concerts in October.

"It's a bit weird, to be honest, looking around at all the new faces," wrote Lightburn. "But it's incredibly exciting to hear the sounds come alive again, and for all the right reasons with all the right intentions. Be excited. It is a new beginning."

The Dears released their End Of A Hollywood Bedtime Story debut album in 2000, and followed it with No Cities Left three years later and Gang Of Losers in 2006. They also released the live Thank You Good Night Sold Out in 2004 and two EPs: 2001's Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique and 2002's Protest.