Lincoln, Nebraska’s renowned post-punk trio For Against, celebrating their 25th year, is set to embark on a 12-date, 6-nation European tour, to promote the release of the band’s 7th album, Shade Side Sunny Side:
16 October: Milan (Blues House)
17 October: Athens (Second Skin)
18 October: Rome (INIT Club)
19 October: Turin (Sound Factory)
20 October: Paris (Le Klub)
21 October: Strasbourg (Molodoď)
22 October: Berlin (Slaughterhouse in Kulturfabrik)
23 October: Leipzig (Projekt G16)
24 October: Bochum (Zwischenfall Club)
25 October: Brussels (Le Botanique)
26 October: Hamburg (Grüner Jäger)
27 October: Amsterdam (MS Stubnitz)
Shade Side Sunny Side is For Against’s first studio album since 2002, and was released in April to critical acclaim:
“This is just a fabulous work, one of the most unnerving and yet often resplendently gorgeous records I've heard in some time. Every time I play it, it unfolds new layers of feeling, unlocking new mysteries of the clash between head and heart, and digs in harder with the simple clarity of its musical force. Album of the year? So far it sure as hell is.” -- Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover
”It's a pleasure to hear a group that has constantly defied the odds still sound fresh and vibrant. This is very much a For Against of now rather than of then, the sweet melancholia of the past turned both more haunted and more angry. Runnings' seemingly deathless voice retains its light, clear quality, as all the group's albums have always shown, but matched again with Dingman's powerful playing, it just seems all that much more right.” -- All Music Guide
”For Against have been nothing short of great since their formation in 1985 and Shade Side Sunny Side is the band's best effort yet. The interplay between Dingman's guitar pyrotechnics and frontman Jeffrey Runnings' low rumbling bass put the likes of Interpol and The Killers to shame. This is what post-punk is supposed to sound like!” -- Skyscraper
”They make their icy gloom appealing in a way nobody's really managed since the Comsat Angels packed it in. It's good to know they're out there, getting better with age, and staying true to their sound despite geographical isolation.” -- PopMatters
As the Lincoln, Nebraska trio approaches their 25th anniversary on the independent music scene, For Against has reemerged with an exclamation point. For Against’s musicianship on Shade Side Sunny Side is in top form, reflecting a maturity befitting their quarter-century of songwriting and performances and a freshness that has drawn together an interesting union of dream pop enthusiasts in the USA and a strong darkwave following in Europe.
The album was released on Minneapolis record label Words On Music, which also released the band’s sixth studio album, Coalesced (2002), and reissued the band’s 1987 debut Echelons (2004), the 1988 follow-up December (2005), and the 1990 EP In The Marshes (2007).
Shade Side Sunny Side also marks the notable return of original For Against guitarist Harry Dingman III, who formed For Against with vocalist and bassist Jeffrey Runnings back in 1984. Dingman left the band after 1988’s seminal dream pop record, December. For the new album, the prolific Runnings-Dingman songwriting team picks up right where they left off 20 years ago, when they wrote the classic postpunk material that comprised Echelons, December, and In The Marshes all within a 2-year span.
This is the fourth trip to Europe since 2007 for the post-punk trio: For Against toured Italy in March 2008, performed at the 2007 Tanned Tin Festival in Castellón, Spain, and played two shows in Athens in March 2007.
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