Porches, the recording project of NYC’s Aaron Maine, announces his sixth studio album Shirt, due out September 13 on Domino. Shirt is part angsty fantasy, part confessional melodrama – a rock album that oscillates between reality and make-believe to reflect both the innocence of suburban youth and the frayed reality of adulthood. A fusion of chaotic impulses, insatiable desires, and a perpetual yearning, Shirt plays with the tension between one’s person and persona – the weight of your dreams crashing up against your reality. The result is something both familiar and uncanny, an anthemic tribute to this intrinsic duality built on crashing and caressing sounds.
Today Porches releases new single “Joker,” featuring an intoxicated kick and clap. “God’s grace” is repeated like a mantra, nodding to a pastoral and tropey Americana – in this case a boy and his dog, but elsewhere a girl in a well, a flag on a pole. Shirt’s hyper-sentimentality is always tempered by hinting at something darker pervading underneath. “Joker” comes via a video directed by Nick Harwood alongside director of photography Ben Carey.
“Joker” follows the previously released single “Rag,” which was hailed as “unsettling and groovy and seductive and rowdy” by Stereogum. “Maine channels rambunctious ‘90s alt-rock,” noted Uproxx, “waves of distortion and boisterous cymbal crashes overtaking the mix in the vein of the Pixies’ tried-and-true, quiet-loud formula.” Blackbird Spyplane immediately hailed it as “one of our favorite singles of 2024… so much more interesting and satisfying than the straightforward, by-the-numbers, culture-stuck Kurt pastiche a lesser musician would have settled for.”
Shirt is instantly recognizable as Porches’ heaviest album to date. Grungy guitars that shine with a menacing glint, drums and bass that punch you warmly in the stomach, interspersed with moments of eerie calmness to create a physical sense of tension and release that resonates with each track.
A concise record that thrusts listeners into a fevered state, Shirt’s hormonal rock songs collide with emotional ballads to create a dynamic tension that propels the listener ahead. The album speaks in broad, relatable terms while maintaining an intimate connection with its creator, blurring the line between universality and personal revelation. Shirt is as much about the climaxes as it is about the banality between life’s most memorable moments, celebrating not just the first kiss but also the anxiety intertwined with it.
Shirt is available to pre-order on Domino Mart edition Sally Blue vinyl, indie stores edition Precious Pink vinyl, standard LP, CD and digitally at Dom Mart | Digital
Alongside the release of “Joker” comes a limited edition “Joker” shirt which is available for purchase via the Porches store here.
Today Porches also announces a fall North American tour, which kicks off in October and includes Los Angeles’ Fonda Theatre on November 7 and closes with a hometown show at Brooklyn Steel on November 20. Tickets to the Brooklyn show are available now; tickets for the rest of the tour go on pre-sale on Wednesday, May 15 at 10am local time – fans can sign up for pre-sale by DMing Porches’ Instagram account the codeword SHIRT to receive the presale code. Tickets go on general sale this Friday, May 17 at 10am local time at porchesmusic.com. The North American tour follows Porches’ previously announced UK/European tour earlier in the fall. All dates are below.
PORCHES ON TOUR:
UK/EU
9/18 – Munich, DE @ Kranhalle
9/19 – Berlin, DE @ Frannz Club
9/20-21 – Hamburg, DE @ Reeperbahn Festival
9/22 – Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet
9/23 – Bruxelles, BE @ Botanique
9/24 – Paris, FR @ Point Éphémère
9/26 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
9/27 – Bristol, UK @ Thekla
9/28 – Manchester, UK @ Band on the Wall
9/30 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
10/1 – Birmingham, UK @ Mama Roux’s
10/2 – London, UK @ Heaven
NORTH AMERICA
10/15 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
10/16 – Washington, DC @ Atlantis
10/17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
10/18 – Durham, NC @ Motorco
10/19 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade (Hell)
10/21 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
10/22 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
10/24 – St. Paul, MN @ Amsterdam
10/25 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
10/26 – Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge
10/28 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
10/29 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
10/31 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
11/1 – Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre
11/2 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza
11/6 – San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo’s 365
11/7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
11/9 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
11/12 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
11/13 – Austin, TX @ Antone’s
11/15 – Birmingham, AL @ Workplay Theatre
11/16 – Indianapolis, IN – Hi-Fi
11/20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
