Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody‘s supergroup Tired Pony, featuring R.E.M‘s Peter Buck, are set to release their debut album, ‘The Place We Ran From’, on July 12.
The band is made up of Lightbody, Snow Patrol touring member Troy Stewart, Snow Patrol collaborator Iain Archer and Belle & Sebastian drummer Richard Colburn, as well as Buck and auxiliary R.E.M member Scott McCaughey.
Produced by Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee, the album was recorded in a week and all the songs are first or second takes.
The record also features guest appearances from She And Him, with Zooey Deschanel from the band dueting with Lightbody on the song ‘Get On The Road’. Tom Smith from Editors makes an appearance, singing ‘The Good Book’.
“It’s inspired by my love of Wilco, Calexico, Lambchop, Palace, Smog, these bands that look at the darkness in America. I wanted to write a twisted love-letter to the States,” said Lightbody.
“It felt really powerful and emotional, and also real free,” added Peter Buck. “I don’t know if Gary went into it planning it to be something that was to last longer than the week of recording, but it certainly felt at the end of the week like it was a band, and that this was a good place to start. It would be crazy not to pursue this.”
The first single from the album, ‘Dead American Writers’, will be released on the same day as the album and there are plans for Tired Pony to tour this summer.
The tracklisting for ‘The Place We Ran From’ is:
‘Northwestern Skies’
‘Get On The Road’
‘Point Me At Lost Islands’
‘Dead American Writers’
‘Held In The Arms Of Your Words’
‘That Silver Necklace’
‘I Am A Landslide’
‘The Deepest Ocean There Is’
‘The Good Book’
‘Pieces’
