“I’m really proud of the show. I know it’s the best show I’ve ever put on. I’m treating it like a performance, instead of just, ‘We have to play the songs,’” says Canadian folk singer/songwriter Tamara Lindeman, AKA The Weather Station, of her tour behind Humanhood, her seventh studio album, which dropped this January. “We’ve added a visual element; there’re video projections… The show is kind of like three parts trying to tell a story musically, and a bit of talking as well,” she tells me during a recent phone chat.
The North American leg of The Weather Station’s current headlining tour kicks off tonight, and will feature Lindeman’s first-ever stop at Underground Arts next Friday, April 4th, in addition to a return to World Café Live, where she’ll be appearing for next week’s WXPN Free At Noon that same afternoon. But Lindeman and her group have already spent January, February, and March taking the show across the UK and Europe, and she tells me that the shows have been going amazingly well: “Man, there were a lot of highlights! The London show was one of the best shows I’ve ever played.”
Lindeman and I’s recent chat is our first since 2018, when The Weather Station were touring behind their self-titled fourth full-length and preparing to play Johnny Brenda’s. The Weather Station have played the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection a lot over the years, including headlining shows at Johnny Brenda’s, Boot & Saddle, and, most recently, World Café Live, which Lindeman last played in April of 2022, behind LP #6, How Is It That I Should Look at the Stars, released the previous month. Despite being her biggest local headlining show yet, Lindeman admits that it was slightly awkward for reasons beyond her control: “That show was interesting, because it was during the pandemic, so half of the people who bought tickets didn’t come.”
However, The Weather Station has played in the 215 a handful of times since then, with some exceptionally big shows. Lindeman served as opening act for Mitski’s Laurel Hell Tour in July of 2022 at Franklin Music Hall, First Aid Kit’s Palomino tour in July of 2023 at The Fillmore, and Belle and Sebastian’s Spring 2024 North American Tour last April at Union Transfer. And while Lindeman tells me that headlining shows certainly prove to be the most satisfying, she also admits that those experiences were beyond incredible: “I really like both things. Obviously, to play my own headlining shows is more meaningful, and people who come to my shows tend to be really thoughtful and have really thoughtful comments at the merch table, but playing with Belle and Sebastian was a dream, and with Mitski, the level of screaming for the opener is something I’d never heard. I felt like they’d been hired to scream [laughs].”
Humanhood is The Weather Station’s third consecutive full-length for Fat Possum (beginning with 2021 commercial breakthrough Ignorance), which Lindeman tells me she’s a huge fan of, but also admits was a slightly different entity when she first joined the roster: “It’s been quite lovely. When I signed with them, I felt like it was a label like, ‘What? Who? What’s that?’ but in the last couple years they’ve really become a label to watch, and they just let you do your thing and don’t micromanage your art.” They’ve actually released the last two full-lengths from PHILTHY phriends and phavorites Dehd. “They sign bands they really like. It’s as simple as that,” says Lindeman.
And Humanhood seems to pick up where 2021’s Ignorance and 2022’s How Is It That I Should Look at the Stars (which were written during the same sessions) left off. While the previous two LPs revolved around the theme of climate grief (turning Lindeman into a sort of spokesperson for the subject), Humanhood sees Lindeman stepping back to consider the collective human experience amidst the turmoil of the destruction of the natural world, debates over “fake news” and pandemic conspiracies, and the seeming diminishment of humanity’s significance in the age of artificial intelligence.
Lead single “Neon Signs” earned Stereogum’s #1 Song of the Week, leading the publication to write, “‘Neon Signs’ unfurls enchantingly… Lindeman’s expressive soprano remains the centerpiece as she sings about feeling lost and conflicted; yet somehow ‘Neon Signs’ manages to serve as a warm, blossoming oasis.” And Lindeman says fans have expressed similarly warm reactions. “It feels like it draws people in in a fairly big way,” she tells me, going on to say she was especially moved by the Bandcamp listening party: “It was really beautiful, when you create something, to see people respond to it in real time.”
Ignorance’s rhythm section — drummer Kieran Adams, percussionist Philippe Melanson, and bassist Ben Whiteley – and co-producer, Marcus Paquin, returned to the fold for Humanhood, with the additions of music improvisers Karen Ng (who appears on How Is It That I Should Look at the Stars) and Ben Boye, making for sessions that Lindeman tells me she loved: “It was a joy to make. It was so much fun to record, and we had a ball in the studio.” She also says that she feels more comfortable than ever before managing everything: “I think it’s just much more confident and informed… especially as a co-producer, [knowing] how to direct traffic and stand up for my convictions.”
Those who listened to the latest edition of Philthy Radio, my monthly show for Y-Not Radio (streaming on Mixcloud), heard me spin “Thirty,” a track off of 2017’s aforementioned self-titled full-length, which Lindeman told me in 2018 was her first attempt at making a rock n’ roll record (and the first record to ever get fans to dance), so I’m inclined to ask her current thoughts on the LP, and she tells me she’s still a big fan: “I love that album! It’s great! I think it has a spirit to it that I really appreciate. I did a recent run in Canada where I did three nights and played all my albums – which was crazy – and when I got to my self-titled, I felt this surge of energy, this freedom…”
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