Chris Arey on September 1st, 2020

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Kevin Morby today announced that his sixth album, “Sundowner,” will be out Oct. 16 via Dead Oceans. With the news came the cinematic video for the lead single “Campfire,” a song reflecting Morby’s roots, echoing sounds of his earlier work.

“Campfire” feels simple, but not in a boring sense, but rather in a heartfelt and soulful way. It’s no wonder “Campfire” is the lead single on the new album; it captures the theme of isolation, which one might presume would sound melancholic.

When describing the creative process, Morby, a Kansas City native who moved back to his home in 2017 after several years in Los Angeles, said, “I wrote the entire album wearing headphones, hunched over the 424, letting my voice and guitar pass through the machine, getting lost in the warmth of the tape as if another version of myself was living on the inside, singing back at me.” That shines through on “Campfire.”

The video for “Campfire,” directed by Johnny Eastlund and Dylan Isbell, displays the theme of isolation and sorrow, too. The video begins with Morby walking throughout the vast openness of Castle Rock, a badlands area in west-central Kansas. About halfway through the tune, Morby walks up to a ’60s Ford pickup truck and begins singing to his partner, Katie Crutchfield, the founding member of Waxahatchee.

It’s during their reunion you can hear the light crackling of a campfire and at once, you are transported to the wilderness of middle America, watching the sun go down. Musically, the tune takes a turn and Morby begins singing about being a “sundowner,” a term coined by the couple and defined as “one who feels increased melancholy during twilight hours.”

Morby says of the album: “It is a depiction of isolation. Of the past. Of an uncertain future. Of provisions. Of an omen. Of a dead deer. Of an icon. Of a Los Angeles themed hotel in rural Kansas. Of billowing campfires, a mermaid and a highway lined in rabbit fur. It is a depiction of the nervous feeling that comes with the sky’s proud announcement that another day will be soon coming to a close as the pink light recedes and the street lamps and house lights suddenly click on.”

“Sundowner” is slated to release on Oct. 16, but before that Morby will begin a virtual tour on every Thursday beginning Sept. 10. He will be performing his entire discography, in chronological order leading up to the release of “Sundowner.”

||| Watch: The video for “Campfire”