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Music

Kevin Morby Picks at Urban Solitude in New "City Music" Video

The title-track from his forthcoming fourth LP does away with the lyrical heft of 'Singing Saw' in favor of a beautiful, bright guitar line.

On Kevin Morby's 2016 LP Singing Saw, the one-time Woods bassist and long-time solo singer-songwriter dealt with God and poetry like Bob Dylan microdosing LSD in the desert. It was lyrically weighty, extremely bold, a little trippy, and sardonic enough at points to carry all of that off. Next week, the 29-year-old will release his fourth studio LP, City Music, as a companion piece of sorts. It's billed as a record of urban solitude against Singing Saw's expanse.

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The album's title-track, released this morning, is a sweet slice of guitar pop, led by a delicate, high-reaching dual riff from Morby and some cut-to-the-chase lyrics: "Oh, that city music / Oh, that city sound / Oh, how you're pulling my heartstrings / Oh, let's go downtown." Morby said in a press release that the song is "more about the guitar than the lyrics, so when it came time to write lyrics, I wanted to make something as relatable and simple as possible to conjure up the feeling of being elated by a city's beautiful mania."

The Christopher Good-directed video is a charming, slightly absurd seven-minute piece that cuts from a spoken-word intro to snapshots of Morby, actress Tipper Newton, Matt & Kim's Kim Schifino, and the always-fun King Tuff. Watch it in full at the top of the page.

Alex Robert Ross is in a city. Follow him on Twitter.