Cass McCombs today premieres the video for “Big Wheel,” the (almost) titular track from Big Wheel and Others, his most recent album.
Shot by Cass’s long-term friend and collaborator Albert Herter in New York, California and China, its chaotic, clashing imagery and oblique sloganeering are the perfect accompaniment to a song that see McCombs subtlety, yet powerfully dismantle generally agreed notions of Western masculinity and identity with his uniquely irreverent wit and insight.
Well versed in the practice of visually representing the Cass way, Herter’s previous collaborations with the artist have come in the form of the beautiful illustrations that adorn the cover of Big Wheel and Others as well as the cover art of 2011’s astounding albums Humor Risk and WIT’S END.
The twenty-two song long Big Wheel and Others is a marauding marvel of great beauty, insight, humor and mystery that truly sees McCombs at the peak of his mercurial powers – his restless muse making stops at all the strangest, most singular roadsides of rock and roll, blues, jazz, country and more on its nomadic quest for human truth and understanding. In equal parts bucolically gorgeous and thrillingly roughshod, mischievously obtuse and devastatingly direct, painfully personal and cosmically universal, Big Wheel… is the perfect distillation of over a decade’s worth of creation and chaos in the life of a true pillar of the American underground.
Cass McCombs’ Tour dates:
Jan. 8 – Bristol, UK @ Colston Hall
Jan. 9 – Glasgow, UK @ CCA
Jan. 10 – Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute
Jan. 11 – Dublin, IE @ Workmans Club
Jan. 13 – London, UK @ Queen Elizabeth Hall
Jan. 16 – Lisbon, PT @ Teatro Maria Matos
Jan. 17 – Aveiro City, PT @ Teatro Aveirense
Jan. 18 – VN Famalicao, PT @ Casa de Artes
Jan. 19 – Santiago, ES @ Salon Teatro de Santiago
Jan. 20 – Madrid, ES @ El Sol
Jan. 21 – Cadiz, ES @ Edificio
Jan. 23 – Barcelona, ES @ La Sala (2) Apolo
Jan. 24 – Bordeaux, FR @ Bordeaux Rocks
Jan. 25 – Rouen, FR @ Le 106
Jan. 26 – Paris, FR @ MoFo Festival @ Mains D’Ouevres
Jan. 30 – Melbourne, AU @ Northcote Social Club
Jan. 31 – Brisbane RNA, AU @ Laneway
Feb. 1 – Melbourne, AU @ Laneway
Feb. 2 – Sydney, AU @ Laneway
Feb. 6 – Sydney, AU @ Oxford Art Factory
Feb. 7 – Adelaide, AU @ Laneway
Feb. 8 – Fremantle, AU @ Laneway
Feb. 17-20 – Southwold, Suffolk, UK @ Latitude Festival