Pitchfork: The Posies Return With New Album

Despite coming to prominence in Seattle in the late 80s/early 90s, the Posies steadfast devotion to the sugary pop of early 70s heroes Badfinger, the Raspberries, and Big Star placed them closer in line with contemporary folk like Teenage Fanclub, Matthew Sweet, and Velvet Crush than their hometown grunge brethren. It's been seven years since the release of their last studio album, but power pop fanatics can rejoice, because main men Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow are back together and Rykodisc will be releasing a new Posies platter, Every Kind of Light on June 28.

Sandwiched between the indie releases Failure in 1988 and Success in 1998 (both on Pop Llama) was a decade of rousing live shows and three more albums of guileless power pop on major labels, most notably Geffen, who scored in 1993 with the band's biggest success Frosting on the Beater. After middling commercial success and good reviews, but bad publicity and promotion by Geffen, Auer and Stringfellow decided to fold the Posies but not their partnership. They have played side-by-side on numerous occasions since 1998 and have released a split mini-LP together, in addition to keeping busy with their own projects and playing with others. (Stringfellow has been a part of R.E.M.'s touring band for a number of years now.) Now they have decided to resuscitate the Posies handle for this new set of tracks, using the stable rhythm section of Oranger's Matt Harris on bass and ex-Preston School of Industry drummer Darren Minwalla. To quote Stringfellow, "The history between us is something that can't be erased. It just so happened that beyond the Posies' history, we found we have a future together."

Every Kind of Light song listing:

01 It's Great to Be Here Again
02 Conversations
03 All in a Day's Work
04 I Guess You're Right
05 Anything and Everything
06 Secong Time Around
07 Last Crawl
08 Could He Treat You Better
09 Love Comes
10 I Finally Found a Jungle I Like
11 That Don't Fly
12 Sweethearts of Rodeo Drive

And naturally, what's a "reunion" album without the money-making live dates to accompany it? According to Jon Auer's site, there should be more dates added, including plans for a Paris show, a few German dates and a full North American tour starting in September.

07-19 Nyon, Switzerland - Paleo Festival (Club Tent)
07-21 Dublin, Ireland - Whelans
07-22 Cork, Irleand - Cruiscin Lan
07-23 Limerick, Ireland - Dolans
07-24 Galway, Ireland - Roisin Dubh
07-25 Nottingham, England - Rescue Rooms
07-28 Catania, Italy - Le Ciminiere
07-30 London, England - Carling Academy @ Islington
07-31 Manchester, England - Academy 3
08-01 Glasgow, Scotland - King Tut's Wah-Wah Hut
08-04 Castellon, Spain - Benicassim Festival
08-06 Korso, Finland - Ankkarock
08-09 Gothenburg, Sweden - Goteborgskalaset
08-10 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser
08-11 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller, Oya Festival
08-18 Utrecht, Holland - Tivoli De Helling
08-19 Hassalt, Belgium - PukkelPOP Festival (Marquee Stage)
08-20 Exeter, England - Beautiful Days Festival