Youth Lagoon has releasesed “The Sling,” a new single/video from his forthcoming album, Heaven Is a Junkyard, out June 9th on Fat Possum. “The Sling,” a song Powers refers to as “the album’s core,” is a ghostly and naked piano ballad. We hear each line like a voyeur peeping through a crack in the wall. “On a lonely street, children still play. Families still eat,” he sings. Heaven Is a Junkyard is a phrase Powers wrote down in his journal after watching a neighbor’s farmhouse catch fire. “I wasn’t even sure what those words meant at the time,” he says. “I’m not sure I still do.” But when the album’s title is heard at the end of “The Sling,” it feels substantial. “Heaven is a junkyard, and it’s my home,” sings Powers.

Of “The Sling,” Powers adds: “For years, I’ve been chasing a phantom. This feeling of an unseen world deep inside of me. It’s why I make music. I have a compulsion to understand myself. Or learn to love myself. Maybe that’s the same thing. I’ve been asked by multiple people to describe ‘The Sling’ — where does it come from? What does it mean? Every time I start an explanation, I contradict myself. I’d consider it a song about time. And love. That I can say with confidence. I wrote it one night I felt trapped. The next morning I was free.”

In 2016, Trevor Powers shut the door on Youth Lagoon. “I felt like I was in a chokehold,” he says. “Even though it was my music, I lost my way. In a lot of ways, I lost myself.” Following a series of health issues that left Powers unable to speak, he turned to text messages and a pen and paper as his only ways to communicate. “I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to speak again, let alone sing,” he says. “It all felt symbolic in a way,” he adds. “I’d been swallowing fear all my life and now here it was coming back up.”

The growth that followed that nightmare narrowed Powers’ focus. Rather than writing about the world at large, he started writing about home. “Family, neighbors, and grim reapers,” laughs Powers. “I’ve always written about far away things, but the best material has been right in front of me this whole time in Idaho.” Recorded in six weeks with co-producer Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Adele, Gil Scott-Heron), Heaven Is a Junkyard is a work of absolute devotion. A portrait of the God-haunted American West. And a reminder that there is always love in the tall grass.

Youth Lagoon 2023 Tour Dates

Fri. July 14 – Spokane, WA @ Lucky You
Sat. July 15 – Bozeman, MT @ The Elm
Mon. July 17 – Sioux Falls, SD @ Club David
Tue. July 18 – Iowa City, IA @ Gabe’s
Thu. July 20 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
Fri. July 21 – Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival
Sat. July 22 – Louisville, KY @ The Whirling Tiger
Sun. July 23 – St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill
Tue. July 25 – Kansas City, MO @ recordBar
Wed. July 26 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
Fri. July 28 – Fort Collin, CO @ The Aggie
Sat. July 29 – Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
Mon. July 31 – Jackson Hole, WY @ Center for the Arts
Thu. Sept. 7 – Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Hall *
Fri. Sept. 8 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge *
Sat. Sept. 9 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater *
Mon. Sept. 11 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line *
Tue. Sept. 12 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon *
Fri. Sept. 15 – Detroit, MI @ El Club *
Sat. Sept. 16 – Toronto,ON @ Horseshoe Tavern *
Mon. Sept. 18 – Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmount *
Tue. Sept. 19 – Boston, MA @ Sinclair *
Wed. Sept. 20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *
Fri. Sept. 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church *
Sat. Sept. 23 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage *
Mon. Sept. 25 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall *
Tue. Sept. 26 – Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 *
Thu. Sept. 28 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall (Upstairs) *
Fri. Sept. 29 – Austin, TX @ Antone’s *
Sat. Sept. 30 – Dallas, TX @ Trees *
Mon. Oct. 2 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf *
Tue. Oct. 3 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
Wed. Oct. 4 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room *
Fri. Oct. 6 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom *
Sat. Oct. 7 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall *
Mon. Oct. 9 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *
Tue. Oct. 10 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos *
Wed. Oct. 11 – Vancouver, BC @ Cobalt *
Thu. Oct. 12 – Bellingham, WA @ Bellingham Exit *
Mon. Oct. 30 – Hamburg, DE @ Kent Club
Tue. Oct. 31 – Copenhagen, DK @ Lille Vega
Thu. Nov. 2 – Amsterdam, NE @ Paradiso Noord
Sat. Nov. 4 – Berlin, DE @ Pitchfork Music Festival Berlin
Mon. Nov. 6 – Paris, FR @ Pitchfork Music Festival Paris
Wed. Nov. 8 – Zurich, CH @ Bogen F
Thu. Nov. 9 – Cologne, DE @ Luxor
Sun. Nov. 12 – London, UK @ Pitchfork Festival (EartH Theatre)
Mon. Nov. 13 – Manchester, UK @ YES (The Pink Room)
Tue. Nov. 14 – Glasgow, UK @ Oran Mor
Thu. Nov. 16 – Dublin, IE @ The Button Factory
Fri. Nov. 17 – Leeds, Uk @ Belgrave Music Hall

* w/ URIKA’S BEDROOM

Pre-order Heaven is a Junkyard by Youth Lagoon HERE