NASHVILLE, WV (LOOTPRESS) – “West Virginia indie rock group Hello June will release a new full-length entitled Artifacts on October 6 via 31 Tigers Records.
Artifacts is the group’s second album and their first in five years, following their self-titled debut in 2018. In advance of the release, Hello June launched a new single – premiered by Glide Magazine – the self- examining, roots-meets-indie rock ‘Honey I Promise.’
‘Honey I Promise’ explores sorrow and it explores heartbreak, but I don’t think it lacks hope,’ says frontperson Sarah Rudy. ‘The song is about knowing that you need to let go of someone (or even an idea of someone) when you don’t really want to.’
‘Honey I Promise’ follows the album’s lead track ‘Interstate,’ a courageous, affecting tune about the death of Rudy’s father after a long battle with addiction. Watch the stunning, nature-filled music video for ‘Interstate’ HERE and listen to the track on your favorite streaming service HERE.
Hello June’s songs are so emotionally open and resonant that they sometimes feel like leaps of faith. The group thrives on dissecting a feeling with a disarming, scalpel-like precision. It’s this clarifying honesty that’s garnered the band rave reviews from NPR, Paste Magazine and No Depression, among others. Across 11 gorgeous and raw tracks, Rudy sings about death, birth, hope and despair with grace and nuance.
Artifacts was recorded in Nashville at Bell Tone Recording with producer Roger Alan Nichols, featuring personnel of Rudy on vocals and guitar, Paul Niehaus on pedal steel (Calexico, Iron & Wine, Justin Townes Earle, Lambchop), Caleb Crosby on drums and percussion (Larkin Poe, Noah Gundersen), and Nichols on guitar (The Veronicas, Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown).
The textures and arrangements the band experiments with on Artifacts are warm and adventurous – take “California,” which introduces New Wave synths to color in the song. It’s a sprawling track that finds Rudy singing,
‘You called me pretty under street lights/ I caught you lookin’, now we can’t look away.’ Elsewhere, songs like ‘23’ are propulsive rockers that evoke both early Big Thief and Drive-by Truckers.
Hello June plans to tour around the new album, with new tour dates to be announced. The group will appear at this year’s AmericanaFest on Saturday, September 23 at the 31 Tigers Party at Love & Exile.”
