Pitchfork

Leave it to Craig Finn to set up the new Hold Steady record better than anyone else ever could. As he says in a press release, "A great American philosopher named D. Boon once said 'our band could be your life.' I think that is true. But 'your life could be our band' is also a true statement. I know this because we have lived it. These are our lives. These are your lives. This is our fourth record. Stay Positive."

Stay Positive is due July 14 in the UK from new overseas home Rough Trade and July 15 in the States from Vagrant. The John Agnello-produced set, recorded in the greater New York metropolitan area this winter, sports both a wider array of instrumentation than past Hold Steady discs, and lyrics that concern themselves with "the attempt to age gracefully." Check out our chat with Craig and guitarist Tad Kubler from February for a little more insight into the forthcoming disc straight from the source.

Before and after the album emerges, the Hold Steady have a number of tour dates at home and abroad to attend to. They'll hit the stage at the impending ATP vs. Pitchfork festival in Rye, England and make their way to Chicago's Union Park the week of Stay Positive's release for the Pitchfork Music Festival.

Stay Positive:

01 Constructive Summer
02 Sequestered in Memphis
03 One for the Cutters
04 Navy Sheets
05 Lord, I'm Discouraged
06 Yeah Sapphire
07 Both Crosses
08 Stay Positive
09 Magazines
10 Joke About Jamaica
11 Slapped Actress

The Hold Steady:

05-02 New York, NY - Webster Hall (Tribeca Film Festival) #
05-07 Middletown, CT - Andrus Field (students only)
05-11 Rye, England - Camber Sands Holiday Centre (ATP vs. Pitchfork festival) *
05-13 Dublin, Ireland - Academy
05-14 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Spring and Airbrake
05-16 Brighton, England - The Great Escape
06-08 Chula Vista, CA - 94.9 Independence Jam
06-27 Baltimore, MD - Ram's Head Live !
06-28 Philadelphia, PA - Festival Pier (Paul Green School of Rock Music Festival)
07-06 London, England - Hyde Park (O2 Wireless Festival)
07-08 Liverpool, England - Echo Arena (Summer Pops)
07-12 Kinross, Scotland - T in the Park Festival
07-19 Chicago, IL - Union Park (Pitchfork Music Festival) $
07-26 Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party

# with the Virgins, Republic Tigers
* with Jens Lekman, Caribou, Hot Chip, Les Savy Fav, No Age, Black Lips, Of Montreal, Man Man, Vampire Weekend, Bon Iver, Atlas Sound, Glass Candy, Dirty Projectors, Times New Viking, Meat Puppets, Jay Reatard, the Black Angels, Marissa Nadler, Wooden Shjips, Girls Against Boys, Shit and Shine, Sebadoh, Ween, Redd Kross, Pissed Jeans, Yeasayer, Fuck Buttons, Apse, A Place to Bury Strangers, the Clientele, Black Mountain, Harmonia, Born Ruffians, Howlin Rain, Car Sick Cars, Even, Hot Chip DJs, Various Production
! with Birds of Avalon
$ with Animal Collective, Jarvis Cocker, !!!, Vampire Weekend, Dizzee Rascal, Fleet Foxes, Caribou, Jay Reatard, Titus Andronicus, No Age, Atlas Sound, Extra Golden, Fuck Buttons, Elf Power, the Ruby Suns, Icy Demons, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Boban I Marko Markovic Orkestar