That cover you see up there is our new record! Today is the big announce. Our new album, Rose City, will be out on Barsuk Records here in the US on May 26th. We’re very excited for this one!
Here’s the track listing:

Viva Voce “Rose City”
1. Devotion
2. Die A Little
3. Octavio
4. Midnight Sun
5. Red Letter Day
6. Good As Gold
7. Rose City
8. Tornado Alley
9. Flora
10. The Slow Fade

Here’s the official press send out!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

VIVA VOCE TO RELEASE ROSE CITY ON MAY 26TH ON BARSUK RECORDS

TOUR DATES AND SXSW SET IN ADVANCE OF THE RELEASE

Since the 2006 release of their Barsuk debut Get Yr Blood Sucked out, Portland, OR duo Viva Voce toured non-stop for nearly 2 years, both as headliners and supporting fellow Portlanders The Shins in the US and abroad.

Band founders Kevin and Anita Robinson took an entire year off from touring (unheard of for them) to finish their hand-built backyard home studio and gig around town with country rock band Blue Giant, and have since become
something of a hub in the Portland music scene:
Kevin has spent time producing and recording bands like Tu Fawning and Thao with The Get Down Stay Down. Anita sang harmonies on The Shins’ Wincing the Night Away album, and performed with them on SNL and on tour. With Blue
Giant, Kevin and Anita made it a habit to incorporate a broad cast of Portland musicians to their live ensemble - and now the Viva Voce band itself has grown, as Kevin and Anita have welcomed Corrina Repp and Evan Railton to the
official line-up.

Now Viva Voce are back with Rose City, an album they wrote, arranged, and recorded themselves all in one furious month - choosing not to deliberate over every little thing but living purely in the moment musically and lyrically. Immersing themselves in sonic experimentation, it was truly spontaneous and cathartic. The result is an angular,
immediate record that pulses with the palpable urgency of a band yearning for a return to the vagabond life of the working, touring musician - a mode in which Viva Voce feels truly at home.

Viva Voce on tour:

March:
12 San Francisco, CA Rickshaw Stop
13 Visalia , CA Cellar Door
15 Tucson, AZ Plush
16 Phoenix, AZ Rhythm Room
18 Austin, TX SXSW
19 Austin, TX SXSW
20 Austin, TX SXSW
22 Denver, CO Hi-Dive
24 Boise, ID Neurolux
28 Portland, OR Aladdin Theatre

April:
10 Seattle, WA Chop Suey
11 Salem, OR Elsinore Theatre

For more information, contact:
Ever Kipp / ever@barsuk.com/ 206-322-7785

I played with The Golden Bears last night at The East End. One of the bands we played with was Hungry Ghost.
My good friend Sara Lund plays drum for HG and watching her destroy it,  I was struck that this was the 2nd time a pregnant lady has blew my mind on the kit. Holy moley! Sara played a scorching set of Blue Explosion style jams 6.5 months in!!
Julianna Bright, the drummer / singer for The Golden Bears did the same thing to me when she was pregnant with their girl Evie. Mind blowing. Maybe it’s the whole glow-thing or having 1.5 people drum is more powerful than just 1, I don’t know…but there’s something other-worldly about it.
I’ve been battling a complex arrangement of flu’s and fevers, so apologies to everyone I breathed on.

Just an FYI for folks in or headed to Austin…we’re updating the SXSW shows as they get confirmed. It’s pretty much par for the course for show to get confirmed at the last minute, but rest assured,…we’ll be playing every day! We just got confirmed at the “Hot Freaks” day party for Saturday, so it looks like we’ll be playing Saturday as well!

Update:
So here’s our complete & exhaustive line up….

Wednesday, March 18:
- Viva Voce: 2pm on-air performance for WOXY
- Viva Voce: 12 midnight showcase @ Radio Room (formerly Bourbon Rocks)

Thursday, March 19:
- Blue Giant: 1:45pm Nail Distro day party @ The Side Bar
- Viva Voce: 4:20pm Little Radio day party @ Red Eyed Fly
- Blue Giant: 9:00pm Big Shot showcase @ Club De Ville

Friday, March 20:
- Viva Voce: 1:45pm Under The Radar party @ Flamingo Cantina

Saturday, March 21:
- Viva Voce: 3:00pm Hot Freaks day party @ The Mohawk

Mastering is the final layer of lacquer you put on a record. My initial thoughts were that I’d master the new Viva record, something I’ve been doing a lot of lately. A thought that I quickly tossed out the window. Spend enough time listening to the same tunes and you start to hear cats meowing instead of singing.
Write a song, record the song, balance and mix the song, and sometimes it’s best to let someone else have a crack at applying the final glue. The good and patient Tony Lash mastered the new record today here in Portland & it sounds fantastic! Very excited about this one & send it off to the label tomorrow.

It’s on.

I’m giving my ears a vacation for a few days, have a good weekend!

p.s.
I broke my “no cymbal” rule on 2 songs. I guess that’s why you make rules right?

Today I’m setting up to do the final mix on the new record. We have a mastering date set for this Friday,….then we get the art back on Monday,…then voila! it’s done.

It’s exciting and a little nerve wracking the closer you get to being done. Mixing alone can take it’s toll. The closest thing I can compare it to, is like working on one long difficult math problem for 12 to 14 hours a day. May not move more than 50 yards all day, but it’s pretty taxing.

It just occurred to me that this is the 1st Viva Voce album we’ve done in our studio. Every record we’ve done to this point has been a home affair of amps in the bathtub and drums in the kitchen. Since we’ve built and finished our studio we’ve recorded two Blue Giant records, a Tu Fawning EP, a couple songs for Thao Nguyen & The Get Down fellas, scored some commercials, but never a Viva Voce record….until now!

Alright, back to the board for the last long math problem.