Joe Pernice Photograph by Colleen Nicholson
The Pernice Brothers return with Who Will You Believe on April 5 via New West Records. The 12-song set is their first in five years and was produced by Joe Pernice. The album includes contributions from longtime bandmates, Bob Pernice, Patrick Berkery, Laura Stein, Liam Jaeger, Michael McKenzie and Joshua Karp, lush string and horn arrangements, the Toronto-based choral group Choir! Choir! Choir!, as well as Neko Case on the duet “I Don’t Need That Anymore.” Who Will You Believe is the band’s first new album since marking their 25th anniversary by reissuing their acclaimed 1998 debut Overcome by Happiness as a deluxe edition last year.
Joe Pernice has crafted a remarkable catalog that boldly reinterprets and recasts classic American pop. Balancing moments of solemnity with warm humor and camaraderie, Who Will You Believe may be his most moving and nuanced album yet.
Today, the band shared their duet with Neko Case, the album highlight “I Don’t Need That Anymore.” Joe Pernice says, “‘I Don’t Need That Anymore’ is one of the rare songs of mine that started with a lyric hook instead of a melody. My wife and my mother were looking at the latter’s sixty-six year old wedding album. My wife said to my mother, ‘Wow! You had some figure.’ Not skipping a beat, my mother said, ‘I had it when I needed it.’ I immediately sent myself a text that read ‘I’m glad I had it when I needed it. But baby, I don’t need that anymore.’” He continues, “I was excited that Neko was into singing with me. No one needs me to tell of her singular voice. And being in the live room while she recorded her part legit gave me goosebumps. And she’s a really great person, which is always a plus.”
SHARE PERNICE BROTHERS “I DON’T NEED THAT ANYMORE (FEAT. NEKO CASE)”
The Pernice Brothers previously shared the album’s title track, “Who Will You Believe.” They also shared the album highlight “December In Her Eyes,” exclusively via Bandcamp as well.
In a single six-month stretch in 2019 Joe Pernice was left reeling from the deaths of two friends and a close family member. “That was such a bad stretch of time. When things settled some I was thinking about them a lot and doing my best to try and take nothing for granted.” Those tragedies inspired “The Purple Rain,” which concludes the album and ranks among his finest songs. In the chorus he sings: Remember me to her sea-bound train. Remember me to her fruited plains. Purple mountains and purple rain won’t always separate the shining seas. The wake is washing over me.
“It’s an homage to some friends and family I lost, but it’s also about the dread of potentially losing intangible things that I thought would always be there,” Pernice says.
Starting with his acclaimed band Scud Mountain Boys, Joe Pernice has been releasing albums for over 25 years. And with age comes a greater patience and an immense appreciation for the act of creation. “I trust the process more,” he says. “I might not know exactly where a song is going when inspiration shows up, so I know to just relax and keep going. I know it’s going to get there, even if it doesn’t happen immediately. Those closest to me might disagree, but I think I’ve become a lot more chill in general.” That speaks to the irony of getting older: Despite having less and less time on Earth, he’s happy to let things run their natural course, however long it might take. As he sings on the spare, bittersweet “How Will We Sleep,” Growing old seemed like death to me when I was young, now I want to grow old and I want to belong. It’s a bit of heavy wisdom married to a hummable melody and delivered in a warmly determined voice. “I try to stop myself every day and tell myself that one of these days is going to be my last. It sounds morbid on the surface, but I don’t think it is. It helps me live in the present, and for me that’s pretty uplifting. Once you get past the scary part, it’s actually a very peaceful feeling.”
Joe Pernice’s catalog with Pernice Brothers extends well beyond that band. In addition to recording a handful of solo albums (including a Barry Manilow tribute), he reconvened the Scud Mountain Boys in the early 2010s for a new album and tour, and in 2014 he released Into the Lime with the New Mendicants, a supergroup featuring Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake. He also writes frequently for television, most notably as a staff writer for the Canadian crime drama The Detail. Joe has published a book of poetry and several works of fiction, including a novella about the Smiths for the 33 1/3 book series. And in 2009, he released a 7-inch single under the alias the Young Accuser via his first label Sub Pop Records—a tie-in with his novel It Feels So Good When I Stop.
Who Will You Believe will be available across digital platforms, compact disc, and standard black vinyl. A limited to 300 Turquoise Color Vinyl Edition autographed by Joe Pernice and including a blue flexi disc featuring an exclusive bonus track will be available via Rough Trade. A limited cassette edition of the album will be available exclusively via Bandcamp. A limited Clear Vinyl edition and compact disc edition both autographed by Joe Pernice will be available at Independent Retailers and is available for pre-order NOW via NEW WEST RECORDS.
