BAILEN’S TIRED HEARTS IS LUMINOUS SEARCH FOR ACCEPTANCE
TITLE TRACK PREVIEWS RISING INDIE-POP TRIO’S UPCOMING NEW ALBUM DUE MAY 5 VIA FANTASY
TORONTO, ON – March 14, 2023 – Today, rising indie-pop trio, BAILEN, have shared Tired Hearts, the title track of their second full-length album, Tired Hearts, due May 5, via Fantasy. Building from a gentle synth-figure intro, the ethereal, reflective track soon transforms into a lustrous, probing, and powerful search for acceptance. Listen to Tired Hearts here and pre-order the album here.
“Tired Hearts is one of the first songs we wrote for this new album,” the band explained. “It set the tone for where we took the rest of the songs both thematically and musically. The song began as an adaptation of a 19th century poem about an Irish factory worker and examines the search for understanding and belonging while our means of survival drives us further from that goal. To be quite honest, this is a song about late-stage capitalism.”
In February, the New York City based siblings shared the album’s first single – the alt-pop gem, Call It Like It Is, along with its cult classic style video – listen and watch here. The sparkling track, co-written by BAILEN and X Ambassadors’ Adam Levin and Sam Harris, is “an anthem for anyone who refuses to be taken advantage of,” the band stated. “It unmasks the ugly truth behind shiny veneers.”
BAILEN is currently on a nation-wide, 25-date tour that is set to visit major cities across North America before finishing with a hometown performance at New York’s venerable Le Poisson Rouge on May 20. BAILEN is also set for high profile appearances this week at Austin’s famed SXSW Music Festival, March 14-16. Find the full tour itinerary below. For tickets and more information, please visit: bailentheband.com.
On Tired Hearts, Daniel, David, and Julia BAILEN deliver an alluring set of songs that navigates the space between the heart’s expectation and the head’s sober reality. At times both intricate and playful, measured and elaborate, the album’s 12 original songs wrestle with an uncertain future where ethics and morality—both communal and personal—are constantly shifting.
Produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee) and BAILEN, and mixed by Lars Stalfors (Soccer Mommy, St. Vincent, Local Natives) Tired Hearts’ taut, synth-driven tracks are centred around BAILEN’s radiant harmonies and adventurous arrangements furthering the group’s exhilarating avant-pop evolution. Cook was instrumental in expanding the band’s ambition beyond what they initially envisioned. “We played the last record live a hundred times before recording it, so we tracked a lot of it live,” Daniel explains. “With Brad, we took a collagist’s approach. It freed us up to explore and be sonically adventurous.”
The album’s numerous high points include the iridescent pop of Nothing Left to Give, the tender hushed intimacy of These Bones, and the piercing, lilting title track, Tired Hearts. The moving BRCA (Nothing Takes Me Down), a title derived from the breast cancer gene Julia shares with her mother (a breast cancer survivor) is indicative of the band’s incredible range. Over a slow building rhythmic pulse, Julia sings of hospital gowns and uncertainty, untying a complex knot of familial anxiety, guilt, and acceptance, while embracing the determination to move forward: I’ll still live like I’m dying/But I won’t let it take me down. “It’s about finding ways to not be defined by these circumstances, and to move past them with resilience,” she affirms.
Known for their stunning vocals and sharp, literate songwriting, BAILEN have cultivated a passionate following and emerged in indie circles via word of mouth, robust playlisting and a stream of steady touring with artists such as Hozier, Amos Lee, The Lone Bellow, and Joseph, to name a few. The group’s acclaimed 2019 debut, Thrilled To Be Here, produced by John Congleton, has amassed over 25 million streams since its release.
BAILEN – Tired Hearts Tour - Spring 2023:
March 14 – High Road Touring Showcase - Austin, TX – SXSW
March 15 – All Together Now – Hotel St. Cecelia – Austin, TX – SXSW
March 15 – South By San Jose – Hotel San Jose – Austin, TX – SXSW
March 16 – The Socal Sound 88.5 Radio Show – Austin Convention Center – SXSW
March 19 – San Diego, CA – The Casbah
March 21 – Los Angeles, CA – Echo
March 22 – San Francisco, CA – Café Du Nord
March 24 – Portland, OR – Polaris Hall
March 26 – Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern
March 30 – Minneapolis, MN – Parkway Theatre
March 31 – Milwaukee, WI – The Back Room at Colectivo
April 1 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School of Folk
April 2 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
May 12 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brendas
May 13 – Washington, D.C. – Miracle Theatre
May 14 – Pittsburgh, PA – Thunderbird Café
May 16 – Toronto, ON – The Drake Hotel
May 18 – Fairfield, CT – Stageone
May 19 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
May 20 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge