John Moreland Goes Off Grid On Surprise New Album ‘Visitor’

In November 2022, singer-songwriter John Moreland began a year-long break from performing, isolating himself at home in Bixby, Oklahoma, and ditching his smartphone for six months. The result of the period of isolation is a new album, Visitor, which Moreland surprise released today through his label Old Omens via Thirty Tigers (a vinyl edition is available on May 31).

“At the end of that year, I was just like ‘Nobody call me,’” Moreland stated. “I needed to not do anything for a while and just process.”

Visitor was recorded with Moreland playing nearly every instrument, while also serving as engineer and mixer. Moreland’s wife Pearl Rachinsky provided vocals on a track and regular collaborator John Calvin Abney played a guitar solo.

Further explaining the circumstances surrounding the creation of Visitor, Moreland stated:

“In 2023, during a year-long break from touring, in an attempt to regain my sanity, I stopped using a smartphone for six months, and wrote this album. I recorded it in my living room, with help from my wife, Pearl Rachinsky. I wanted to make a natural sounding folk-rock record. Simplicity and immediacy felt very important to the process, so I knocked out the tracking in about 10 days, playing every instrument on the album myself, save for one guitar solo (John Calvin Abney – ‘The More You Say, The Less It Means’), and Pearl contributed some bgv’s on one song (‘Ain’t Much I Can Do About It’). Lyrical themes include digital life vs actual life, a bit of ‘What the hell is up with the world?,’ and a whole bunch of ‘What the hell is wrong with me?’”

Moreland will embark on a tour in support of Visitor beginning on Wednesday, April 10 in Chattanooga, New York. Stream the surprise new album below:

Visitor Tracklist

1. The Future Is Coming Fast
2. Gentle Violence
3. One Man Holds The World Hostage
4. Sobo Interlude
5. The More You Say The Less It Means
6. Will The Heavens Catch Us
7. Blue Dream Carolina
8. Silver Silver
9. Ain’t Much I Can Do About It
10. No Time
11. Bixhoma Interlude
12. Visitor