Fire Track: Wild Pink – “Eating The Egg Whole”

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Wild Pink’s new LP Dulling The Horns will be released in a little less than a month on Fire Talk Records. The album is Wild Pink’s 5th full length, arriving after a long crescendo of acclaim that reached a new peak around the release of the band’s last LP, 2022’s ILYSM. An album made in the midst of leader John Ross’ cancer diagnosis and treatment, that record was Wild Pink’s most expansive and experimental, widening the palette of the bands sound and incorporating a vast collection of new genre and production ideas as well as a host of collaborators, including Julien Baker, Yasmin Williams and J. Mascis.

On the band’s new record they have streamlined things, making an album that applies the lessons of their more expansive recent records to tighter arrangements built around some of Ross’ strongest songwriting to date. The album has so far been preceded by the release of two singles “Sprinter Brain” and “The Fences of Stonehenge,” which have seen a growing consensus in the press that Dulling The Horns might be a new high water mark for the band, and an album to cement their leader John Ross as “one of the most consistently excellent songwriters in indie rock” (Uproxx).

Last week, the band announced a new leg of their tour in support of the album, which will include a run of dates with MJ Lenderman, and today they’re providing another preview of their forthcoming album with a single called “Eating The Egg Whole.”

Wild Pink’s latest collection is wooly and wild with ideas. Throughout, Ross’ lyrics mirror the music in its scrappiness. Some connect, some are ellipses; some resonate poignantly and some tumble into hilarious asides. With Dulling The Horns as something of a reset for Wild Pink, it’s as if Ross is emptying all this loose, untamed energy both musically and spiritually.

“Eating The Egg Whole” exemplifies the playful spirit of the album, riding a chugging road ramble of a beat while Ross muses on Michael Jordan documentaries and DC sports history, slyly connecting local vicissitudes to mortality with one raspy “Nothing lasts forever!”

Ross says of the song:

“This song came together when I was watching the Michael Jordan doc on Netflix. I grew up an Orioles fan and the connection between Jordan and DMV sports just kinda happened on its own. It’s also kind of about how unrelaxing it is to watch TV and scroll on your phone. Super fun song to play live, def one of my favorites now.”

Full details of Wild Pink’s upcoming dates in the US, UK and EU can be found below. 

PREORDER/PRESAVE DULLING THE HORNS HERE

Tour Dates
10.10 – Stockholm, SE @ Slaktyrkan
10.11 – Oslo, SE @ Belleville
10.12 – Copenhagen, DK @ Stengade
10.13 – Berlin, DE @ Badehaus
10.14 – Hamburg, DE @ Aalhaus
10.16 – Cologne, DE @ Blue Shell
10.17 – Rotterdam, NL @ Left Of The Dial Festival
10.18 – Rotterdam, NL @ Left Of The Dial Festival
10.19 – Utrecht, NL @ EKKO
10.21 – London, UK @ Moth Club
10.22 – Edinburgh, UK @ Sneaky Pete’s
10.23 – Glasgow, UK @ Mono
10.24 – Newcastle, UK @ The Cluny
10.25 – Leeds, UK @ Headrow House
10.26 – Bristol, UK @ The Crofters Right
11.08 – Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s @
11.09 – Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk @
11.10 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern @
11.11 – Windsor, ON @ The Meteor
11.12 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bells @
11.14 – Milwaukee, WI @ XRay Arcade *
11.15 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle *
11.16 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Pittsburgh Winery *
11.17 – Washington, DC @ DC9 *
11.19 – Portland, ME @ Space *
11.20 – Boston, MA @ The Rockwell *
11.21 – Philadelphia, PA @ Ukie Club *
11.22 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool *
11.23 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool %
01.29 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle $
01.30 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle $
01.31 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt $
02.01 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn $
02.02 – Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry’s $
02.04 – New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s $
02.05 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall $
02.06 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s $
02.08 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Beer City Music Hall $
02.10 – Santa Fe, NM @ Tumble Root $
02.11 – Tuscon, AZ @ 191 Toole $
02.13 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre $
02.14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre $
02.15 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre $
02.17 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent $
02.18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent $
02.20 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall $
02.21 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre $
02.22 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre $
02.23 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club $
02.24 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Soundwell $
02.26 – Fort Collins, CO @ Aggie Theatre $
02.27 – Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre $
02.28 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theatre $
03.01 – Colorado Springs, CO @ The Black Sheep $
03.03 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck $
03.04 – Urbana, IL @ Rose Bowl Tavern $
03.06 – Lexington, KY @ The Green Lantern Bar $
03.07 – Lexington, KY @ The Green Lantern Bar $

$ with MJ Lenderman
*with John Francis Flynn
% with The Natvral
@ with Friendship

Fire Note Staff
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