Kevin Morby has released two new songs, ‘Wander’ and ‘Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun’. They’re both taken from the singer-songwriter’s recently announced LP Sundowner and arrive with accompanying music videos: ‘Wander’ comes with a lyric video consisting of raw footage of the Midwestern landscape shot by Morby, while ‘Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun’ is accompanied by a Graham Shafer-directed clip starring Morby’s partner Katie Crutchfield. Check them out below.
“‘Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun’ is my favorite song off of the new album, and the one I’m most proud of,” Morby said in a statement. “I consider space to be a prominent instrument on the song — and here it is as important as anything else you hear on the track. It was my goal to capture the vast openness of the middle American landscape sonically. To this end — there is a whole track of nothing but Texas air, birds and wind chimes living beneath the song.”
Talking about ‘Wander’, he added: “‘Wander’ is anchored by a lyric I’ve had in my head for the past decade. The hook ‘I wonder as I wander why was I born in the wild wonder’ is even featured in the insert of the first Babies LP. The song is meant to steadily gain momentum before coming to an abrupt halt. It is the shortest song I’ve ever written, and is intended to be played on a loop.”
“We shot the video in the middle of Kansas, showing Katie driving down an empty highway listening to the song on a tape deck, which is exactly the kind of environment I’d hope one would get to experience it in,” he explained.
Sundowner is out October 16 via Dead Oceans. It includes the previously released Waxahatchee collaboration ‘Campfire’.