Stephen Malkmus Plots Spring Tour With New Live Band

Samuel Gehrke and Chris Shonting – Malkmus Returns
Stephen Malkmus (left) will hit the road with collaborators Chris Funk (center) and Matt Sweeney (right) this spring in support of his new album.

Singular indie-rocker Stephen Malkmus announced a new studio album and a return to the road on Wednesday.

Malkmus’ latest album Traditional Techniques, due March 6, is his second consecutive solo record without longtime backing band The Jicks – but in their absence, he’s assembled a similarly stellar set of collaborators.

Malkmus’ new live band, which begins its trek at Minneapolis’ First Avenue on March 31 and concludes it at Detroit’s St. Andrew’s Hall on April 19, is comprised of album collaborators Chris Funk (The Decemberists) and Matt Sweeney (Bonnie “Prince” Billy), along with Brad Truax (bass), and Jake Morris (drums), Qais Essar (rabab) and Eric Zang (kaval, udu, daf).

The worldly instrumentation reflects the fresh sounds on Traditional Techniques, which stemmed from studio experiments initially conceived while Malkmus recorded the most recent Jicks album, 2018’s Sparkle Hard. It also reflects a departure from his electronic-oriented 2019 solo album Groove Denied.

Malkmus fans have plenty to look forward to in 2020. After his solo tour, Malkmus will reunite with his legendary band Pavement for the first time in a decade for two June concerts at Primavera Sound in Barcelona and Porto.

Malkmus’ tour goes on sale to the public on January 24 at 10 a.m. local time. Find the list of dates below.