Black Books Can't Even

Austin, Texas-based band Black Books will be releasing their powerful sophomore LP Can't Even in Europe in Winter via Shifting Sounds / Cargo Records Germany.Can't Even thrives in dualities - debilitating sadness and exalting joy, bitter endings and expectant beginnings, lostlove and new hope. Since their eponymous debut LP released in 2013 by UK-based Believe Recordings - and asubsequent tour opening for The Flaming Lips - the band has experienced monumental changes: births and deaths,marriages and divorces, losing and gaining members. The result of this tumultuous but transformative period is thestunning and potent sophomore effort, Can't Even.Can't Even is a poignant record brimming with dreamy melancholia, punctuated by moments of pure elation. Thealbum can be defiant and bold, and at other times plaintive and searching. The resultant songs highlight a moremature band that continues to explore expansive soundscapes. Yet each of the 11 songs on Can't Even have diversetraits: confessional but guarded, scintillating but deep and dark. The songs carry listeners through the depths of grief,the fog of coping and the light and transcendence of moving on. Lyrically, the songs on Can't Even are romantic andbrooding. We listen to a narrator pushing against the life forces he can't - or won't - understand as he struggleswith the very idea of his world coming undone. The combination of clever, thoughtful lyrics that plead, exhort and jokewith the album's sonically expansive instrumentation and hooky melodies.The result is a richness in dynamics and texture.Over the span of several years, the band spent countless late nights developing the 11 songs showcased on Can'tEven. Black Books has crafted an extraordinarily agile record that accomplishes so much musically, from strippeddown, heart-rending songs like "Heaven Help Us" to driving dream pop songs like "Really Nice To See You." Much ofthe music was recorded, mixed and mastered at the band's long-time home studio and refuge...