When you discuss Raleigh music or even North Carolina in general, it is impossible to avoid The Love Language. They have become a staple of Raleigh music. Now that they have continued to receive national attention from the likes of Pitchfork and Paste Magazine, they are representing Raleigh to the rest of the world, and they can’t offer a better representation of us.
The Love Language started as the bedroom recording project of Stuart McLamb after a rough breakup and being kicked out of his previous band, The Capulets. The pop-smart songwriter and multi-instrumentalist set out to make music as a therapeutic excursion in 2008. The demos made their way around and eventually ended up in the hands of The Rosebuds who invited him along to help kick off their Life Like tour. Like that, The Love Language became a full-fledged band.
In March 2009, they released their self-titled debut to rave reviews. They began to grow as their live shows became more renowned with performances at SXSW and Monolith Festival in addition to supporting tours for Cursive and The Rural Alberta Advantage. Following these highly praised performances, The Love Language was signed to Merge Records. Their second album Libraries was released in July of 2010 on Merge to even more widespread acclaim.
It has now been three years since The Love Language’s last release and despite its positive reception; those years have not been easy. With a rotating cast of band members and an on again off again touring schedule, people began to wonder what would happen to The Love Language, but McLamb proved on his latest effort, Ruby Red, that The Love Language is still alive and kicking
Over the past 3 years, Stuart has been carefully crafting the songs for his third album, Ruby Red. He again teamed up with BJ Burton for what turned into a long road to perfection. Although the band has still maintained its infectious breed of emotionally-fueled pop, its latest effort is much more sonically experimental as it explores much larger spaces. This time around they enlisted over 20 other musicians to fully flesh out the songs and fill every corner, and it shines through on this record. Each song seems meticulously thought out and very carefully put together. With the release of this new record and a string of strong tour dates ahead, The Love Language boldly state that they are here to stay.
http://www.thelovelanguage.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thelovelanguage
You can check out their new music video for the song “Calm Down” featuring some WKNC DJs over at Pitchfork.TV.
Check out The Love Language’s upcoming tour dates here:
Aug 27 Nashville, TN – Stone Fox
Aug 28 St. Louis, MO – Firebird
Aug 29 Chicago, IL – Schuba’s
Aug 30 St. Paul, MN – Turf Club
Aug 31 Kansas City, MO — Czar Bar w/ Schwervon
Sep 01 Omaha, NE — O’Leaver’s
Sep 02 Denver, CO – Hi Dive
Sep 03 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
Sep 04 Boise, ID Neurolux ^
Sep 05 Portland, OR – MusicFest NW
Sep 06 Eugene, OR – Cozmic Pizza %
Sep 08 Seattle, WA – Neumos %
Sep 10 San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw w/ Bleeding Rainbow
Sep 11 Los Angeles, CA – Bootleg Bar
Sep 12 San Diego, CA — Soda Bar ^
Sep 13 Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock w/ Soft Metals
Sep 14 Tucson, AZ — Club Congress
Sep 16 Austin, TX – Mohawk – Inside ^
Sep 17 Dallas, TX – Club Dada
Sep 18 Houston, TX – Mango’s
Sep 19 New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa
Sep 20 Atlanta, GA — Masquerade w/ Man Man
# w/ Eternal Summers
* w/ The Critters
% w/ The Dodos
^ w/ On An On