Kurt Vile Announces New “EP” & Shares First Single, “Another good year for the roses”

Purveyor of certi-fried guitar pop Kurt Vile has announced Back to Moon Beach, a new collection, which — featuring an hour-plus worth of music — stretches the agreed-upon definition of EP. It’s Vile’s first new music since 2022’s watch my moves. 

Last week the Philadelphia-bred musician shared “Another good year for the roses,” a catchy, arpeggiated-piano-driven number that features both Welsh avant-pop artist-producer Cate Le Bon and Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa. The trio laid the foundation for the track in NorCal, holed up in a studio near the famously sharky Stinson Beach alongside longtime Violator Rob Laakso and Deerhoof’s Chris Cohen, before adding overdubs with Adam Langellotti at Vile’s Philly studio. Aside from the melodious ivory tickles, “roses” features Vile’s trademark frizzled guitar leads and enjoyably off-kilter wordplay: “Man, these days I do I whatever I want / Tone out the rest, ‘til something wakes me from a rest / Tone out the rest, ‘til something arresting awaits me.”

A video for “roses” includes footage of Vile and friends meandering through a forest of tall trees, and scenes of Vile performing in a small club with actors Michael Shannon and Kevin Corrigan. 

“Hi! Here’s the opening track from my upcoming ep… ok, it’s longer than an ep… now I call it a KV comp,” Vile wrote in a press release accompanying the announcement of Back to Moon Beach, a collection of six “new songs, one-offs, covers, and newly reworked versions of beloved tracks.” 

Back to Moon Beach EP is out November 17 on Verve Records (order here). Tickets for Vile’s spring tour – which will bring him as close as Athens’ 40 Watt Club and Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse – go on sale (here) on October 27. Track list and complete tour dates below our Fresh Squeeze Playlist. 

More New Music

You can hear more tracks from Kurt Vile on our music discovery station The Independent 89.9 HD4. And you can follow our Fresh Squeeze playlist on Spotify to stream all the best new music, updated every month.

Back to Moon Beach – Tracklist

1. Another good year for the roses (5:34)

2. Touched somethin (caught a virus) (6:31)

3. Back to Moon Beach (8:15)

4. Like a wounded bird trying to fly (5:29)

5. Blues come for some (5:09)

6. Tom Petty’s gone (but tell him i asked for him) (8:15)

7. Must Be Santa (5:12)

8. Passenger side (3:10)

9. Cool Water (Single Mix) (4:29)

KURT VILE TOUR DATES 

Sat. Nov. 18 – Allentown, PA @ Miller Symphony Hall

Sun. March 17 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar +

Mon. March 18 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall +

Tue. March 19 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall + &

Thu. March 21 – Sun. March 24 – Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Festival

Fri. March 22 – Memphis, TN @ Minglewood Hall +

Sat. March 23 – Little Rock, AR @ The Hall +

Sun. March 24 – Oxford, MS @ The Lyric Oxford +

Tue. March 26 – New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s +

Wed. March 27 – Birmingham, AL @ Iron City +

Thu. March 28 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse +

Fri. March 29 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club +

 + w/ Weak Signal

+ & w/ King Kong and Weak Signal