Westerman shares his final offering “A Lens Turning” from his sophomore album An Inbuilt Fault, out this Friday 5 May 2023via Partisan and Play It Again Sam. Accompanied by a music video directed and animated by Edwin Burdis, the visuals perfectly capture the song with a seemingly metaphysical character morphing to each musical shift. Through the use of colour and movement, the video mirrors the song’s ups and downs while maintaining an eerie atmosphere that reflects its ominous themes of self-doubt. The new track follows previously released singles “Take,” “CSI: Petralona” and “Idol; RE-run,” the latter which Pitchfork noted, “lingers deceptively far past its fade out.“
Additionally, Westerman has announced a headline UK and European tour starting in October and going into mid-November. The tour kicks off with a run of nine UK dates including London’s Hackney Church on 26 October 2023, followed by a European run. These shows will follow his first North American tour in four years that starts this week. Tickets for the UK and European shows will go on sale this Friday May 5th here and you can find full tour routing below.
An Inbuilt Fault encapsulates some of the most adventurous and unselfconscious songwriting of Westerman’s career with music that is heavier and more sonically daring than his previous releases. While first working solo through a period of isolation in Italy in 2020 and 2021, a chance meeting with Big Thief’s James Krivchenia at a show in London changed this. Westerman decided to take a leap of faith and collaborate with the drummer and an extended crew of Los Angeles associates to flesh out his new songs. The Italy demos became jumpoff points for jams which, in imaginatively edited forms, pushed the songs into new affective realms; sometimes, the mood became more sinister, sometimes more triumphant. Throughout the album, Westerman abstracts his specific points of inspiration into invented scenes featuring multiple characters (sometimes distinguished with vocal effects or alternate vocal ranges) and allows his most broad-strokes universal sentiments to dominate the foreground. The result is his own mini-epic about being in crisis, stitched together from torn song fragments and spontaneous moments of musical exorcism, which combine to tell a story that takes clearer shape with repeated listens.
The album artwork is by the renowned New York via Portugal graphic designer and illustrator Bráulio Amado, who Westerman has had a long standing relationship with. Bráulio Amado and Westerman worked together for the artwork on Westerman’s previous debut album as well.
In 2020, Westerman released his debut album Your Hero Is Not Dead, a graceful and self-reflective project described as “excellent” by Pitchfork, that continued the artist’s journey from pop maverick to one of the most vital voices coming out of the UK. Your Hero Is Not Dead features the stand-out songs, “The Line”, “Your Hero Is Not Dead,” “Waiting on Design,” “Think I’ll Stay” and “Blue Comanche” and is the follow-up to his critically-acclaimed Ark EP.
Listen to and watch “A Lens Turning” below, see album tracklist and full tour routing below.
An Inbuilt FaultWestermanPartisan Records and Play It Again SamMay 5 2023 Pre-order / pre-save here 1. Give2. Idol; RE-run3. I, Catullus4. CSI Petralona5. Help Didn’t Help At All6. A Lens Turning7. Take8. An Inbuilt Fault9. Pilot Was A Dancer |
Upcoming Live Dates North America:6/5 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah 7/5 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent 9/5 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios 10/5 – Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s 14/5 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge 16/5 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry 17/5 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall 19/5 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern 20/5 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB 21/5 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair 23/5 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 24/5 – Philadelphia, PA @Johnny Brenda’s 26/5 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd 27/5 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle – Back Room 28/5 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl 30/5 – Austin, TX @ Antone’s Nightclub 31/5 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada 2/6 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar 3/6 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room UK and Europe:14/10 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast 15/10 – Edinburgh, UK @ Mash House 17/10 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club 18/10 – Manchester, UK @ Canvas 19/10 – Dublin, Ireland @ Whelan’s 21/10 – Nottingham, UK @ Bodega 22/10 – Cardiff, UK @ SWN Festival 23/10 – Bristol, UK @ Echange 25/10 – Brighton, UK @ Komedia 26/10 – London, UK @ Hackney Church 28/10 – Paris, France @ La Boule Noire 30/10 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Bitterzoet 31/10 – Brussels, Belgium @ AB Club 1/11 – Cologne, Germany @ Helios37 2/11 – Hamburg, Germany @ Turmzimmer 3/11 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Small Vega 5/11 – Oslo, Norway @ Parkteatret 6/11 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Nalen Klubb 8/11 – Warsaw, Poland @ Hydrozagadka 9/11 – Berlin, Germany @ Berghain Kantine 11/11 – Vienna, Austria @ Rote Bar at Volkstheater 12/11 – Munich, Germany @ Milla 13/11 – Lugano, Switzerland @ Studio Foce 14/11 – Dudingen, Switzerland @ Bad Bonn 16/11 – Milan, Italy @ Biko 17/11 – Bologna, Italy @ Covo Club |