Itasca’s forthcoming release Spring is due out next week, and today Kayla Cohen shares a final advance listen of the record, via new single and video “Only a Traveler.” Going along with Spring’s overarching story of escaping Los Angeles for the quiet meditation of rural New Mexico, Cohen says “Only a Traveler” “describes the conflict between the city mindset and the desire to walk out onto the furthest mesa untethered.” The track follows previously released singles “Lily” and “Bess’s Dance,”

Cohen directed the video, shot on Super 8 in both California and New Mexico. “It’s influenced heavily by the opening sequence in Heart of Glass, the film by Werner Herzog, which shows blurred scenes of Bavaria, Germany and Yellowstone National Park, against a soundtrack by Popul Vuh,” she says. “Heart of Glass was a ‘visual key’ for my understanding of how video can interface with music. In the case of ‘Only a Traveler,’ I hope the viewer can allow and enter a meditative state, to contemplate the slow movement and soft colors of the film.”

Spring lands on November 1st, via Paradise of Bachelors (Mega Bog, Nap Eyes). The full-length features James Elkington, Chris Cohen, and members of Bitchin’ Bajas, Gun Outfit, and Sun Araw.

Change was rushed by the refrain
Kept on dreaming of a basket,
overflowing with grain
A worn red cloth woven over the cobs
single figure of the wild plain

Itasca will play a hometown record release show at Zebulon in LA on November 13, followed by a cross-country tour throughout November.

Itasca
Tour Dates

11/13: Zebulon (record release show) – Los Angeles, CA
11/15: Denim Factory – Richmond, VA
11/16: Rhizome – Washington, DC
11/17: Union Pool – Brooklyn, NY
11/18: Tubby’s – Kingston, NY
11/19: Dirty Dungarees – Columbus, OH
11/20: Landlocked Music – Bloomington, IN
11/21: The Hideout – Chicago, IL
11/22: Acme Records – Milwaukee, WI
11/23: Moon Palace – Minneapolis, MN