NPR

Kevin Morby Explains His New Album, 'City Music' Track By Track

The singer's latest album is a love letter to urban areas he loves and the people who live there.
Kevin Morby's fourth album, <em>City Music</em> is out June 16 on Dead Oceans.

You're in a New York apartment, alone on a warm night, hearing the sounds of the city drift up from the streets. Or you're in Paris and part of the noise, moving through the crowded streets and sidewalks, both feeling the weight of the world and a being a part of that weight. Or maybe you've never even seen a large city, and mistake the glowing lights from afar for a mysterious fire.

The rumbling din of urban landscapes and the millions of stories that unfold there are, collectively, a kind of "city music." For singer Kevin Morby, it's a sound he celebrates and romanticizes on his new album, appropriately titled City Music.

For the City Music's release today on Dead Oceans, we asked Morby to share some of the thoughts, memories and stories behind each of his new songs. He talks about the exhaustion of living outside the mainstream, his love of The Ramones, and how an imaginary woman named Mabel helped pull the whole album together.


Come To Me Now

"This song is

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