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EXCLUSIVE: Cass McCombs Teams With Rostam

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Cass McCombs is that rare artist, in the era of overshare, who maintains a semblance of privacy: He doesn’t give many interviews and lives a nomadic life, moving throughout his career from city to city. He prefers to communicate through his music, and that’s just fine, given the splendor of his recent output. McCombs’ second release of this year, Humor Risk, arrives November 8, and SPIN has an exclusive taste of the new material below. It’s a reimagined version of album track “Robin Egg Blue,” featuring additional production by Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij.

The song finds the mysterious singer-songwriter lightening up a bit. Sure, the drama from his other 2011 album, Wit’s End, is still there, but now there’s a smirk to accompany his wry tales. And, thanks to Rostam, the track gets a bit more levity with a flurry of keyboard twinkles and a stiffened backbeat that’s, dare we say, danceable.

The track will appear as a bonus cut on the iTunes version of Humor Risk.

McCombs will hit the road for dates on the West Coast later this month — see below for venues.

Cass McCombs tour dates:
11/30 Los Angeles, CA (The Echo)
12/1 San Diego, CA (Casbah)
12/4 San Francisco, CA (Great American Music Hall)
12/6 Vancouver, CA (Electric Owl)
12/7 Seattle, WA (Tractor Tavern)
12/8 Portland, OR (Doug Fir)
12/9 Eugene, OR (Sam Bonds)