Angelo De Augustine shares ‘Mirror Mirror’ from new album ‘Angel in Plainclothes’ out 24 April
Album artwork
"In the dizzying chime of his careful fingerpicking and high-pitched howls, De Augustine captures love’s bright blaze." – Pitchfork
"De Augustine's delicate vocals and instrumentals make these enormous themes feel floral and approachable." - NPR
"Few artists can quiet a room quite like Angelo De Augustine...he can make a music venue feel like a living room, demanding the audience’s full attention by simply refusing to raise his voice." – Paste
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With his new album Angel in Plainclothes, Angelo De Augustine shares a multi-year-long journey of healing and renewal. After collapsing and being hospitalized with an undiagnosed illness in early 2022, the Southern California-based singer/songwriter endured an arduous journey of re-learning how to walk, talk, see, hear, play music, and sing again; abilities most people take for granted. Once he was able to return to writing and recording, De Augustine welcomed others into his creative process for the first time in years. The end result is a reverent album. His most inspired and powerful work yet.
A revered songwriter, who built a cult audience before emerging into broader public consciousness with his 2019 LP Tomb and a 2021 collaborative album he made with Sufjan Stevens entitled A Beginner's Mind, De Augustine found himself in a radically different emotional space when approaching his latest release.
“When I made Toil and Trouble I was in a really bad state, having just been released from the hospital and only about halfway through the recording of the album. I had accepted that I was going to die and that I should do all I could to finish the record,” says De Augustine. “I didn't believe that I was going to survive the illness, let alone ever make music again. The experience unfortunately broke me and everything that I thought that I knew or could count on,” he further explains. “With this new record, I’m trying to pick up the pieces of who I was and figure out who I am now. I am on a journey where I feel like I may have been given a second chance at life, and I’d like to live it.”
Today, De Augustine is announcing his fifth album Angel in Plainclothes, which will be released on April 24th via longtime label home Asthmatic Kitty. To mark the announce he is sharing the album's first single ‘Mirror Mirror.’
De Augustine delivers a hypnotic piece on the standout single ‘Mirror Mirror’–a collective of train whistles, electric guitars, off-kilter blown out drums, and a zither-like object known as a bowed psaltery ("Tell me your mother in heaven won’t cry in vain / The way you treat your life like it’s just a game / Tumbling down like an endless waterfall").
De Augustine says of the track:
“Usually when I make music, I’ll sit down with one instrument and write the song. In ‘Mirror Mirror,’ I didn't stick to this principle and was messing around with the tape machine’s varispeed function- seeing what would happen if I slowed down what I’d recorded on the bowed psaltery, creating an unusual droning noise. The song came from experimenting with layering sound in a very free way and watching as the structure of a song revealed itself.”
In support of the album, De Augustine will embark on his first US tour in seven years in May with support from Hannah Frances. Full details can be found below.
Pre-order / pre-save Angel in Plainclothes
Tracklisting:
1. Empty Shell
2. Pet Cemetery
3. Spirit of The Unknown
4. The Cure
5. Mirror Mirror
6. Cosmic Ride
7. The Universe Was Our Mother
8. With a Love So Kind
9. Pictures On My Wall
10. Goodbye Baby Blue
Tour dates:
5/1/26 - Los Angeles, CA - Sid the Cat Auditorium
5/2/26 - San Francisco, CA - Swedish American Music Hall
5/5/26 - Portland, OR - Polaris Hall
5/6/26 - Seattle, WA - Triple Door
all dates w/ Hannah Frances
Angelo De Augustine online:
Instagram | Bandcamp | YouTube | Website
