Yo La Tengo have announced a new EP titled Sleepness Nights, out October 9 via Matador. The group have also shared the first single from the project, a cover of the Byrds’ ‘Wasn’t Born to Follow’. Check it out below, and scroll down for the EP’s tracklist and cover artwork.
Created in collaboration with Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, the record was conceived as part of his career-spanning exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts (LACMA). It features five covers and one new original called ‘Bleeding’.
“We met Yoshitomo Nara in 2003, would see him at his art shows and our concerts,” Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan said in a statement. “We dj’d at an opening at the Asia Society, and on another occasion he drew a picture of Georgia strangling me on a Gloomy pencil case that became one of Georgia’s prized possessions until it was stolen from her at the bar at the K-West hotel in Shepherd’s Bush. To make the catalogue of his 2020 exhibit at LACMA more personal, the idea came up to include an LP of some of Nara’s favorite songs as part of a deluxe edition. We were asked to provide one side of the LP (and that one track be a new composition), with the other side being another six songs selected by Nara, in their original versions.”
Earlier this year, the group put out We Have Amnesia Sometimes, a collection of ambient instrumentals recorded during lockdown. A 25th anniversary edition of their 1995 LP Electr-o-pura is set to be released on September 4th.
Sleepless Night EP Cover Artwork:
Sleepless Night EP Tracklist:
1. Blues Stay Away (The Delmore Brothers cover)
2. Wasn’t Born to Follow (The Byrds cover)
3. Roll On Babe (Ronnie Lane cover)
4. It Takes a Lot to Laugh (Bob Dylan cover)
5. Bleeding
6. Smile a Little Smile for Me (Flying Machine cover)
