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10am local
Venue Presale: Wednesday\, April 29th @ 1
2pm local
MRG Presale: Thursday\, April 30th @ 10am
local
Spotify Presale: Thursday\, April 30th @ 10a
m local
General Onsale: Friday\, May 1st @ 10am lo
cal
THE MILK CARTON KIDS — LOST CAUSE LOVER FOOL
On thei
r seventh studio album\, Lost Cause Lover Fool (due April 24 on
Far C
ry/Thirty Tigers)\, The Milk Carton Kids offer nine songs that\, more
than ever\, invite listeners to lean in close and linger inside the small
moments the record quietly magnifies.
When Los Angeles–
based singer-songwriters Kenneth Pattengale and
Joey Ryan first emerg
ed in 2011\, they did so with a sound as
unassuming as their “marke
ting” plan. They recorded their ten-song
debut\, Prologue\, with ju
st their two guitars and two voices. They posted
it online as a free
download\, sending the link to friends via email. Even
amidst the foo
t stomps and hand claps carrying Folk into the
mainstream\, hundreds
of thousands of people managed to find Prologue
in that first year. F
rom the beginning\, The Milk Carton Kids were more
interested in prec
ision than volume.
“We were very conscious back then of tryin
g to make our two voices
sound like one thing\,” Ryan recalls. “A
nd we wanted our guitars to sound
like one instrument too.”
That instinct toward unity and understatement became the foundation of
a career that steadily expanded without ever losing its center.
Fast-forward fifteen years\, through chaotic world events\, a global
pandemic and its aftermath. Through Ryan’s two children and
Patten
gale’s move to Nashville then back to LA\, his bout with cancer.
Th
e pair went from darlings of the Americana Music Association Festival
to hosting its annual awards show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
They started their own Sad Songs Summer Camp\, helping songwriters
d
ig deeper and darker through an intense workshopping process. They
al
so founded the Los Angeles Folk Festival\, spotlighting musicians and
comedians in the broader Folk community. (In its first two years\, the
festival has featured performances by Emmylou Harris\, Waxahatchee\,
Sierra Ferrell\, Willie Watson\, Valerie June\, and more.)
Alon
g the way\, the duo has received four Grammy nominations and their
so
ngs have been featured in numerous film and TV projects\, from Gus
Va
n Zandt’s Promised Land to Tina Fey’s goofball comedy series Girls
5Eva. They’ve collaborated with a who’s who of players from Joe Henr
y
and Rosanne Cash to Sara Bareilles and Josh Ritter.
Thro
ugh all of it\, The Milk Carton Kids have remained committed to a
dec
eptively simple idea: music can help turn down the volume on a
chaoti
c world and make room for what matters most.
Lost Cause Lover F
ool is the clearest distillation of that idea yet. With
roots-leaning
arrangements and a deep trust in space\, the album
expands the duo
’s signature minimalist sound while somehow making it
even more foc
used.
“This album is\, at its core\, a collection of songs ab
out transformation\,”
Pattengale explains. “About the shifting te
rrain of consciousness and the
stories we build to understand who we
’ve been\, who we are\, and who
we’re becoming. Each song takes a
single moment\, sometimes
examined with microscopic closeness and so
metimes viewed from a
great distance\, and lets it expand until it be
comes an entire world. By
enlarging small feelings until they’re in
habitable\, the record looks for
eternity not in the sweeping or monu
mental\, but in the intimate specifics
that usually pass too quickly
to notice.”
The record opens with “Blue Water\,” led by t
he lonesome pluck of a
banjo. Handled with restraint\, the instrument
feels less like traditional
bluegrass and more like morning light ca
st across a stretch of grass.
Lyrically\, the song captures a fleetin
g image: a man walking along a
river\, thinking about the child who o
nce lay on his chest and now shares
his worried mind. It’s a moment
so slight it could easily be dismissed\,
except that it holds an emo
tion as universal as it is brief.
That instinct to pause\, to hover\,
to honor passing thoughts runs through
the entire album. The songs o
n Lost Cause Lover Fool live in interior
spaces\, where the act of no
ticing becomes a kind of devotion.
The title track drifts through
an unsettled internal monologue\, its narrator
caught between confide
nce and doubt as memory and worry begin to
resemble one another. “S
ometimes I’m tough / Sometimes I’m not
enough / Sometimes I think
of you\,” Pattengale sings\, as the song circles
its thoughts with
out resolving them. “A Friend Like You” recalls a road
trip throu
gh Texas and New Mexico and the particular ache of sharing
space with
someone when the most important things remain unspoken.
“Blinded a
nd Smiling” compresses joy\, love\, and mortality into the instant
it takes to snap a photograph\, reckoning with how quickly even the
h
appiest moments slip into the past.
“Young Love” closes the
album by wondering what ever became of a
long-ago companion. As mela
ncholy as that question might be\, in The
Milk Carton Kids’ hands i
t feels quietly illuminating\, as though the
riverside walk where the
album began has led back into a clearing. The
past may be painful to
revisit\, but letting the mind wander through it can
also bring pers
pective and grace.
Musically\, the duo continues the subtle exp
ansion of their palette.
There’s banjo\, drums\, choral backing voc
als\, all pulling toward a unified
center. Even as their arrangements
grow richer\, the goal remains the
same.
“As we're addi
ng more and more layers\,” Ryan says\, “we're still drawn to
the
idea of a sound where the pieces give themselves up to the greater
wh
ole.”
At just nine songs\, Lost Cause Lover Fool resists exce
ss by design. Its
brevity is not a limitation but a philosophy. A qui
et argument for
mindfulness\, economy\, and attention. In an age of c
onstant noise and
endless content\, The Milk Carton Kids make a case
for staying small\,
staying present\, and listening closely. It’s w
hat they’ve always done.
Lost Cause Lover Fool doesn’t strain for
relevance or make a spectacle
of itself. It simply pauses long enoug
h for the listener to step inside. It
reminds us\, gently but insi stently\, that the smallest moments are often the ones that last.
\n\nB oletos: https://admitone.com/events/toronto/pro/concerts/massey-hall/the-m ilk-carton-kids/the-milk-carton-kids/69e128f0d830eaffe3060ad9 URL;VALUE=URI:https://360exp.net/events/a31bc0e1-12c8-4d9a-81e9-80c13c94d3 53 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR