Stream La Vella in full below:
Topshelf Records and 22-year punk/indie/emo veteran Bob Nanna (Braid) are pleased to announce the full album stream of La Vella, the new LP from The City On Film, Nanna’s solo side project. Premiering one week prior to its official release on Tuesday, December 16, La Vella (produced by Nanna and Jeff Dean at Million Yen in Chicago, IL) is the long-awaited follow-up to In Formal Introduction, The City On Film’s debut album from 2007, and also follows the release of Braid’s critically acclaimed return, No Coast, that was released in July of 2014.
In support of the album, Nanna has also announced a January 2015 tour with gates and Young Statues that will begin on Thursday, January 8 at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, NY and culminate in a performance at Mr. Roboto Project in Pittsburgh, PA on Saturday, January 17. A full list of The City On Film’s upcoming tour dates can be found below.
In January 2014, Bob Nanna was laid off from what he described as the “perfect day job.” Undeterred, he began to create a new perfect day job, playing music (with seminal emo band,Braid, a young frenetic upstart, Lifted Bells, and the downtempo electronic band with his wife named Jack & Ace). He also focused attention on his custom songwriting website, Downwrite.com, which fueled the inspiration for this newest album from his solo project The City On Film, entitled La Vella.
On Downwrite, Nanna sourced stories from nine fans and turned them into tracks on this new album, the second full-length solo record after 2007’s In Formal Introduction. Lead off track “You Wild Thing (An Illuminous Life)” tells of a chance meeting and a bonding over The Pogues, Ted Leo, and gym shoes. “Take The Ghosts” addresses personal conflict after a tragedy while “Stray” takes on wanderlust in the Big Apple. Nanna used a request for a soundtrack to a charity bike trek to create “Kill It!,” a song about a close-to-home battle with lymphoma. The album concludes with “Andorra La Vella,” the most personal song on the record, written independently of Downwrite, recalling a big red dictionary in the Nanna household, highlighting countries and capitals, and a few poignant songs he cannot listen to anymore.
The City on Film, as solo vehicle, debuted in 1999 during a Braid hiatus and has been active, albeit in the background, since. Given the success of his various musical projects and Downwrite, Nanna hopes to keep The City On Film forever alive to tell his stories and the stories of his friends and fans.
The City On Film will be making the following appearances in December 2014 and January 2015 with gates and Young Statues. Tour dates below.
DECEMBER
20 – Chicago, IL – Metro (Bob Nanna solo)
JANUARY
08 – Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus
09 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
10 – Amityville, NY – Amityville Music Hall
11 – Allston, MA – Great Scott
13 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
14 – Lansing, MI – Mac’s Bar
15 – Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen
16 – Newport, KY – Southgate House Revival
17 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Roboto Project
