We recently had the opportunity to check out the new album, “Only Frozen Sky Anyway”,the 18th album, via Blue Arrow Records (vinyl and CD will be released at a later date TBA), from legendary singer-songwriter, Jonathan Richman, and spoiler alert: it is stunning.

You can listen to “Only Frozen Sky Anyway” on Spotify Here, Apple Music Here

With his longtime drummer and percussionist Tommy Larkins and former Modern Lovers bandmate the inimitable Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads) on keyboards, Richman follows in his longtime tradition of injecting his lyrical wit into indie rock in a fashion that he perfected over the decades.

Kicking off with the rhythmic “I Was Just A Piece of Frozen Sky Anyway,” the album finds Richman better than ever traipsing through acoustic styles effortlessly from track to track. Lifting the melody and chorus from Bee Gee’s eponymous hit single, Richman creates a nostalgic narrative in “Night Fever,” where he takes on a voyeuristic look on typical a Saturday night in Europe. The infectiously propulsive “The Older Girl” sees Richman warning a younger fellow to avoid dating up (“She was a whole year older / And I looked a lot younger / I was too young to know how important those two things were”). The Spanish-inflected “Se Va Pa’volver” captures the thematic thread of departures and returns that permeates the album. Richman explains, “Like many of the songs on this new record, which either existed in a vague, skeletal form or did not at all before we started recording on January 5th of ’25 (and finished by January 10th), this song fits in with the theme that seems to have taken shape during that recording session. The song is about how our friends are leaving, in their dying, on an errand, only to return in another role… with another mission. How do I dare say such a thing? Oh…I don’t know.”

In addition to this album of all new material, Blue Arrow will be releasing his last three albums Ishkode! Ishkode! (2016), SA! (2018) and Want To Visit My Inner House? (2021) as well as the EPs Cold Pizza & Other Hot Stuff(2022) and Yatasamaroun (2023) to streaming services for the first time ever. Previously only available via Bandcamp or for purchase at shows, the rollout of these releases finally makes them accessible to a much larger audience. Of these albums, Richman says, “Jerry Harrison, Nicole Montalbano and I produced [Want To Visit My Inner House?] as well as SA! (2018). To us, the two albums are related in the sense that Want to Visit My Inner House?suggests where SA was starting to head.”

In support of Only Frozen Sky Anyway, Richman has announced a Fall tour that kicks off October 3rd in Boise, ID and circles the continent, hitting Calgary, Winnipeg, Minneapolis, Albany, before wrapping up at Portland, ME’s SPACE Gallery.  Dates and info

Jonathan Richman, is more than your average singer-songwriter, he is a musical institution . “Only Frozen Sky Anyway “ is an absolute triumph from Jonathan Richman.

Jul 01Aladdin TheaterPortland, OR

Jul 02Aladdin TheaterPortland, OR

Jul 31 UC Botanical Garden at BerkeleyBerkeley, CA

Oct 03 Shrine Social Club (Shrine Ballroom)Boise, ID

Oct 04 Zootown Arts Community CenterMissoula, MT

Oct 07Royal Canadian Legion No.1Calgary, AB

Oct 08Myer Horowitz TheatreEdmonton, AB

Oct 09Roxy TheatreSaskatoon, SK

Oct 11West End Cultural CentreWinnipeg, MB

Oct 15West TheatreDuluth, MN

Oct 16 First AvenueMinneapolis, MN

Oct 17 Englert TheatreIowa City, IA

Oct 18 Delmar Hall St. Louis, MO

Oct 19 The Whirling Tiger Louisville, KY

Oct 21 Manny’sState College, PA

Oct 23 Lark HallAlbany, NY

Oct 24 Somerville Theatre Somerville, MA

Oct 25 Somerville TheatreSomerville, MA

Oct 26 Somerville Theatre Somerville, MA

Oct 28 SPACE Gallery Portland , ME

Oct 29 SPACE GalleryPortland , ME

Nov 1 Alderney Landing Theatre Dartmouth, NS