Feb 28, 2023
By Mark Redfern
Photography by Ariel Fisher
New York-based duo Water From Your Eyes have announced a new album, Everyone’s Crushed, and shared its first single, “Barley,” directed by the band’s own Rachel Brown. Everyone’s Crushed is due out May 26 via Matador, their first album for the iconic label. Check out the “Barley” video below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover artwork, as well as the band’s upcoming tour dates, including some shows opening for new labelmate Snail Mail.
Water From Your Eyes are Nate Amos (he/him) and Rachel Brown (they/them). Everyone’s Crushed is the follow-up to 2021’s Structure (on Wharf Cat) and 2019’s Somebody Else’s Song. Brown says Everyone’s Crushed is the band’s most collaborative album yet.
In 2023, it’s hard to put out music that is truly unique and interesting, and yet not so experimental that it’s unlistenable. With “Barley” Water From Your Eyes successfully thread that needle with a challenging song that still has enough pop to keep the listener fully engaged for three-and-half minutes. Plus the video is edited with precision.
The band collectively had this to say about the song in a press release: “Barley is a rhythmic sound collage experiment drawing from modern classical, classic rock, and dance music. The lyrics suggest repeated futile attempts at attaining the unattainable and allude to Sting and Sonic Youth. The video mirrors these concepts in scope, texture, and variety—juxtaposing feelings of entrapment and late stage capitalism against the sense of freedom inherent to the vast American landscape. Despite all this heady bullshit the song is, at its core, fun.”
Water From Your Eyes was one of the artists to take part in our 20th anniversary album, Covers of Covers, where they covered R.E.M’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine).” Check out the whole album here or listen to Water From Your Eyes’ track on YouTube and Spotify.
Read our 2021 interview with Water From Your Eyes on Structure.
In 2022, Water From Your Eyes’ Nate Amos also partnered with Lily Konigsberg (of Palberta) as My Idea and released the album CRY MFER, via Hardly Art. Read our 2022 interview with My Idea.
Everyone’s Crushed Tracklist:
1. Structure
2. Barley
3. Out There
4. Open
5. Everyone’s Crushed
6. True Life
7. Remember Not My Name
8. 14
9. Buy My Product
Water From Your Eyes Tour Dates:
3/16 Brooklyn, NY Residency Night #1 @ Secret Location
3/24 Brooklyn, NY Residency Night #2 @ P.I.T.
4/7 Iowa City, IA @ Mission Creek Festival
4/8 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown *
4/9 Lawrence, KS @ Lied Center (Pavilion Space)
4/10 Fort Collins, CO @ Aggie Theatre *
4/11 Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre *
4/12 Salt Lake City, UT at Soundwell *
4/13 Las Vegas, NV @ AREA15 *
4/14 Bakersfield, CA @ Temblor Brew #
4/15 Oakland, CA @ Eli’s #
4/16 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Fremont Theater *
4/18 Reno, NV @ Cargo Concert Hall *
4/19 Roseville, CA @ Goldfield Trading Post +
4/20 Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre +
4/21 Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon #
4/22 Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space #
4/23 Flagstaff, AZ @ Yucca North *
4/24 El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace *
4/25 Albuquerque, NM @ Sister *
4/27 Oklahoma City, OK @ Jones Assembly *
4/28 Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge *
4/29 Memphis, TN @ Black Lodge *
5/1 Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue *
5/2 Cincinnati, OH @ Woodward Theater *
5/4 Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant Street *
5/5 Richmond, VA @ Friday Cheers *
5/6 Winston-Salem, NC @ The Ramkat *
5/7 Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees
6/24 Calgary, AB @ Sled Island
* w/ Snail Mail & Dazy
# w/ Dazy
+ w/ Snail Mail