Lilacs & Champagne, the instrumental, sample-heavy duo of Grails members Alex Hall and Emil Amos, have announced their first new album in nine years. It’s titled Fantasy World and will be out July 19 via Temporary Residence Ltd.
Where previous albums have dabbled in instrumental hip hop and trip-hop, Fantasy World explores sound collage, citing Negativland and Severed Heads as influences this time. You can definitely hear that on the two tracks released so far, “Ill Gotten Gains” and “Evil Has No Boundaries,” which are both still beat-driven but employ more of an experimental, patchwork feel. Check those out below.
Meanwhile, Hall and Amos will be out with Grails on tour starting June 26. They’ll play NYC’s Le Poisson Rouge on July 1 with SOMA.
1. Ill Gotten Gains
2. Rude Dream
3. Fantasy Land
GRAILS TOUR DATES
Jun 26 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
Jun 27 – Asheville, NC @ Eulogy
Jun 28 – Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall
Jun 29 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
Jun 30 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA
Jul 01 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
Jul 02 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom
Jul 03 – Boston, MA @ Crystal Ballroom
Jul 05 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
Jul 06 – Toronto, ON @ The Monarch
Jul 10 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle