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Arc Iris’ Cosmic New Single ‘Paint With the Sun’ Is a Fable in Disguise

It feels ironic that Arc Iris comes from the smallest state in the US. The Providence-based trio writes astronomical music, with vast diversity in instrumentation, lyrical themes, and melodies. The group’s second album Moon Saloon features trumpets, pedal-steel guitars, banjos, and trombones, most of which are audible on “Paint With the Sun” alone. And for Arc Iris, no grandiose sound comes without an accompanying story.

“‘Paint With the Sun’ is about a boy who plays the piano at a soup kitchen,” frontwoman Jocie Adams informs SPIN over email. “There is a woman at the soup kitchen who always comes to see him.  One day the woman asks him for a ride home. He saw how sad, messy, and lonely her home was and decided to come back every week to clean it and paint her walls.” With the mythologizing pen of Joanna Newsom and the brass sections of Florence and the Machine, Arc Iris widens a story to a moral epic. “As cheesy as it sounds, we hoped to communicate the importance of good deeds, and the sweeping impression that they have on society.”

Joined by the close harmonies of her drummer and keyboardist, Adams experiments with dissimilar verses and choruses on the amorphous “Paint With the Sun.” The group’s forthcoming self-produced record (mixed by electronica producer David Wrench of FKA Twigs and Jamie xx fame) combines the traditional with the digital to make celestial pop à la Bat for Lashes. Listen below, and look out for the LP out August 19 via Bella Union.

Arc Iris tour dates:
August 13 — Providence, RI @ Foofest
September 7 — New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine*
September 8 — Willimantic, CT @ The Eclectic
September 9 — Elizabethtown, NY @ Otis Mountain Getdown
September 10 — Plymouth, VT @ Popolo: The Great Outdoors
September 14 — Philadelphia, PA @ Boot and Saddle*
September 16 — Washington, DC @ Songbyrd Music House*
September 18 — Charlotte, NC @ The Evening Muse
September 19 — Asheville, NC @ The Mothlight
September 20 — Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
September 28 — Columbus, OH @ Scarlet & Grey
September 30 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Pittsburgh Winery
October 1 — Cleveland, OH @ Mechanic Street Concerts
October 6 — Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade*
October 9 — Ashfield, MA @ Signature Sounds Presents at the Ashfield Lake House
October 12 — Portland, ME @ State Theatre Presents at Empire*
October 13 — Cambridge, MA @ Lizard Lounge*
October 14 — Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre*
October 15 — Burlington, VT @ Signal Kitchen*
October 16 — Ossipee, NH @ Three Pork Hill*
October 22 — Paris, FR @ Le Pop-Up Du Label
October 24 — Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Kleine Zaal
October 25 — Brussels, BE @ Botanique
October 27 — Brighton, U.K. @ The Green Door Store
October 28 — Leeds, U.K. @ Brudenell Games Room
October 29 — Manchester, U.K. @ Sound Control
October 30 — Glasgow, U.K. @ Broadcast
November 1 — Bristol, U.K. @ The Louisiana
November 2 — London, U.K. @ Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen
November 17 — Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
November 18 — Dallas, TX @ Double Wide
November 22 — Albuquerque, NM @ Tortuga Gallery
November 26 — Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge

*with Superhuman Happiness