Cold Specks’ has debuted a cover version of the recent Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ track ‘We No Who U R,’ the B-side to new single ‘Bodies At Bay,’ out September 16^th on Mute. The new single is taken from Cold Specks’ latest album Neuroplasticity, out now. 

Cold Specks, aka Al Spx, has returned, two years and a world map of tours after 2012’s I Predict a Graceful Expulsion. The 26 year-old Canadian singer, under the sobriquet Al Spx, began work on Neuroplasticity while holed-up in a cottage in Wick, Somerset, UK during the winter of 2012. “The record was mapped out in the cottage. I was there for about three months,” she says, “’A Formal Invitation’, ‘Old Knives’ and ‘Absisto’ were essentially written there. They are the more unusual songs on the record. I may have been reflecting on my surroundings. Have you ever been to Glastonbury? It’s a pretty fucked up place.”

When Cold Specks wasn’t writing or touring, she was busy collaborating, including work on Moby’s album. She was also invited to play with Joni Mitchell at the singer’s 70th birthday last year, alongside the likes of Herbie Hancock. She contributed to Ambrose Akinmusire’s new record for Blue Note and the latest Swans album ‘To Be Kind’. These last two partnerships have left a significant impression on ‘Neuroplasticity’. The indomitable Swans founder Michael Gira appears midway through on ‘Exit Plan,’ and Akinmusire joins him on the intense closer ‘A Season of Doubt’ as well as permeating most of the record with trumpet lines of an anguished, cracking frailty.

COLD SPECKS TOUR DATES:

10/25 – Halifax, NS – The Marquee Club
11/5 – Cambridge, MA – TT The Bear’s Place
11/7 – Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade NYC
11/8 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
11/9 – Washington, DC – Rock and Roll Hotel
11/11 – Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic
11/12 – Nashville, TN – The High Watt
11/14 – Dallas, TX – Three Links
11/15 – Austin, TX – The Mohawk
11/17 – Phoenix, AZ – The Crescent Ballroom
11/19 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
11/21 – San Francisco, CA – Brick & Mortar Music Hall
11/23 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
11/24 – Seattle, WA – Barboza
11/25 – Vancouver, BC – The Imperial Theatre
11/27 – Edmonton, AB – Royal Alberta Museum Theatre
11/28 – Calgary, NW – SAIT’s Gateway
11/29 – Swift Current, SK – Lyric Theatre
11/30 – Winnipeg, MB – Park Theatre
12/2 – Minneapolis, MN – Cedar Cultural Center
12/3 – Chicago, IL – Schubas
12/5 – Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
12/7 – Montreal, QC – La Sala Rossa