The Barr Brothers Share ‘English Harbour’ Single Featuring Jim James & Arc Iris

The Barr Brothers sought out My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James and Arc Iris’ Jocie Adams for “English Harbour,” the latest single off the forthcoming album, Let It Hiss. Siblings Brad Barr and Andrew Barr will release their fourth studio album on October 17 via Secret City Records.

The self-produced Let It Hiss is The Barr Brothers’ first album since 2017’s Queens Of The Breakers. The brothers tracked the forthcoming album at their Montreal studio. Along with Adams and one-time tourmate Jim James, other contributors include Patrick Watson, Klô Pelgag and fellow Montrealer Elizabeth Powell (Land Of Talk), .

“Something cool and interesting that happened while recording ‘English Harbour’ — we imagined both Jim James and Jocie Adams (Arc Iris) singing on this one,” Brad Barr said. “We had befriended Jim when our band The Slip opened for My Morning Jacket in 2007, and opened for them again with The Barr Brothers around 2015. And we’ve loved Jocie’s singing and arranging instincts since we toured with her old band The Low Anthem. The night we had the idea to invite them, we wrote to them both separately to ask if they’d be interested and available to sing on this song and they randomly happened to be eating dinner together at Jocie’s house in L.A. Crazy serendipity! The two of them make this song so magical.”

“We’d been imagining Jim’s soaring voice on the song’s opening melody for a while,” Andrew Barr added. “One afternoon around 4 p.m., we sent it to him before heading out to pick up our kids. By the time we got home that night, he’d sent back not only the opening melody but a fully harmonized performance from start to finish. It was one of those hair-standing-on-the-back-of-your-neck moments in the life of this record. I loved the song from the moment Brad first played it for me, but Jim’s voice brings a whole new energy to it.”

Stream “English Harbour” featuring My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Arc Iris’ Jocie Adams:

The Barr Brothers, co-founders of the late-1990s trio The Slip, will support Let It Hiss with their first extensive headlining tour since 2019. The Let It Hiss 2025 Tour begins on November 4 in Burlington, Vermont and concludes with a hometown Montreal show on November 29.