On July 31st, Alex Izenberg will release his enthralling 11-track opus Caravan Château. A follow up to 2016’s Harlequin which Pitchfork praised for its “sweetness and heart,” Caravan Château finds Izenberg looking inward, longing for connection, and testing his boundaries.
Today, Izenberg offers a new glimpse at his forthcoming record with “Lady,” a peppy piano-and-string shuffle led by Izenberg’s crooning voice; “The devil is alive in America.” “Lady” is accompanied by an animated video done by Bráulio Amado.
Izenberg on “Lady”: “Lady” was an instrumental song Ari Balouzian made for an upcoming film produced by Darren Aronofsky. He FaceTimed me and showed it to me and I was really into it and he let me sing on it and have my own version called “Lady.”
With the help of a handful of collaborators including Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear), Jonathan Rado (Foxygen, Whitney, Lemon Twigs), Ari Balouzian (Tobias Jesso Jr) and others, Izenberg creates songs that are easy to adore but hard to define. Izenberg’s sharp songs are the bait that first brings you into Caravan Château, but that deliberate ambiguity is what brings you back repeatedly, hoping to tease out the riddles of being inside these stunning tunes.
In 40 minutes, Izenberg flings open another window onto a scene of fractured beauty and romantic longing, a place where music itself is a coping mechanism. From the narcotized sway of “Saffron Glimpse” or the charming bounce of “Sister Jade,” to the backmasked blues of “Dancing Through the Turquoise,” Caravan Château is visceral and gorgeous, troubled and sympathetic, instantly likable and richly textured.
Caravan Château tracklisting:
01. Requiem
02. Sister Jade
03. Anne In Strange Furs
04. Disraeli Woman
05. Saffron Glimpse
06. Dancing Through The Turquoise
07. Bouquets Falling In The Rain
08. December 30th
09. Lady
10. Revolutions Girls
11. Caravan Château
