The Romance Studies Preview

Stephin Merritt is going to be part of an upcoming exhibit at The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston called The Romance Studies.  Mr. Merritt is collaborating on the project with visual artist Ali Naschke-Messing and choreographer Rashaun Mitchell.  The Romance Studies premiers January 2014.

In the mean time, however, you can purchase tickets for a sneak preview of the residency here.  During this preview, which will happen on July 18, the three will be sharing songs and ideas that will likely come to full fruition in the completed exhibit.  Details of exactly what this will entail are scarce, but this is exciting nonetheless!  If any of you gentle readers attend the preview, I would love to hear back a report!!

Future Bible Heroes Announce Summer Tour!

Future Bible Heroes will be going on a North American tour this summer!!  The band will, like at the already-announced Bell House show, lack Stephin Merritt but these shows are bound to be amazing nontheless.  Here's to hoping Mr. Merritt is sitting this tour out not only due to lack of interest, but also due to being close to the completion of the musical he is writing with Daniel Handler!

The touring band will consist of Claudia Gonson, Christopher Ewen, Shirley Simms and Anthony Kaczynski.  A full list of dates can be found here.  If you're at the Chicago show, come say hi to this overly eager little blogger!!

Video Interview w/ FBH

Above is an absolutely wonderful video of Chris Ewen, Claudia Gonson and Stephin Merritt discussing the history of Future Bible Heroes and offering some brief knowledge about the new album, Partygoing.  It's full of really wonderful information, including some very brief tidbits of songs off the new record and some super adorable footage of the three band members dancing.  Watch it!

Future Bible Heroes Live Date

Future Bible Heroes have announced their first live show in over a decade!  They will be performing at the Chickfactor 21 Festival at The Bell House in NYC on June 12th.  Stephin Merritt is not scheduled to perform, but a show featuring Christopher Ewen and Claudia Gonson sounds lovely in and of itself.

Tickets are available here.

I hope this means that future live dates are in the works, though I admit that seems unlikely.  It'd sure be great to be proven wrong, though.

Future Bible Heroes to release "Partygoing," plus retrospective box set!

Here it is, folks!  The news I've been waiting to report since I started this blog!  THE NEW FUTURE BIBLE HEROES ALBUM IS COMING OUT THIS YEAR!!!  It is entitled Partygoing and it's going to look a lot like this:

The release date is June 4th, via Merge Records!  And, if that isn't enough for you, then get a load of this: on top of that, FBH will be releasing a retrospective box set of ALL their previously recorded material, entitled Memories of Love, Eternal Youth, and Partygoing.  The box set will be released in both CD and vinyl formats, marking not only the first time that these albums are available worldwide, but also the first time they are available in vinyl format.

The box set's cover will look like this:

More information can be found at House of Tomorrow and the Merge Records website.

I'm shaking as I type this I am so excited!  I would have been thrilled for a new album alone, but ALL the FBH material coming to vinyl!?!?  Why is the world so good to me these days?

EDITED TO ADD: OMG you can totally go here and hear a brand new Claudia-sung Future Bible Heroes track entitled "Living, Loving, Partygoing!"  It's remarkable, of course.  Also: there is a track entitled "Satan, Your Way is a Hard One," which was the title of the abandoned Gothic Archies single and I'm confused and delighted and is it obvious I'm freaking out a little?

My Bowie

Stephin Merritt wrote this really touching article about David Bowie for Out Magazine.  All of the topics involved (Stephin Merritt, David Bowie, gender politics, fun) are extremely important to me, so I recommend the article on a lot of counts.  Check it out!

Confrimation of New FBH!

Chris Ewen has been active in his social media outlets in the past few days confirming the existence of a new Future Bible Heroes album!  I've seen news a brewin', but have felt uncomfortable sharing because it has yet to be said in a public forum.  Today, though, the Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields twitter page posted about it and that is official enough for me.

I am excited about the potentiality of new music and just as excited to continue reporting information to you, my fair readers, as it becomes available.  It has been a decade since Future Bible Heroes' last release and I'm sure their return will be a triumphant one!