On March 18, alt-country/post-punk pioneers Richmond Fontaine will release “You Can’t Go Back If There’s Nothing To Go Back To“, announcing that it will be their final album after a 20+ year run. Rather than a nostalgic drive down memory lane, the record offers some of songwriter, Willy Vlautin‘s most powerful work to date. Featuring long-time members, (drummer) Sean Oldham and (guitarist) Dan Eccles, the band is rounded out by Freddy Trujillo on bass this time around (following founding member and bassist Dave Harding’s move to Denmark). UNCUT gives the record a “9/10”, calling it “as good as anything (Willy) has ever written”, and Q Magazine said “Every song is like a mini Coen Brothers movie… Dramatic and poetic, you’ll sorely miss Richmond Fontaine when they’re gone”
As Willy puts it, “I wrote You Can’t Go Back… to give an end piece for all the characters who inhabited the world of RF over the years. Throughout the new record are hints of past RF albums and nods to past locations that the characters had found themselves in, and always they’re drifting and searching, hoping for a decent place to land. In the end they try to go back home where they were when RF first began. It’s where the characters started and now where they’ll end.”
The record includes 13 tracks and is available on CD (with 8 page lyric booklet) and LP (with insert). The deluxe version of the lp, featuring a gatefold jacket, 180gm vinyl, poster, and a cd with 8 bonus tracks is nearly sold out. Get your copy from Fluff and Gravy Records (North America) or Decor Records (Europe).
The band will be embarking on a European Tour in April, and will be planning US dates for summer of 2016. “We’ll tour this record for as long as we can and then we’ll a have a knock down drag-out party, wake up with a hangover, and move on”, says Vlautin. You can follow their victory lap here. Don’t miss it.