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Jun 20, 2024 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Mitch Buss

Over the past decade, Wisconsin-based musicians Brian Holl and Eric Hillman have built a catalog of expansive and experimental ambient folk under the moniker Foreign Fields. The band debuted with 2012’s Anywhere But Where I Am, followed by 2016’s Take Cover and their most recent album, 2020’s The Beauty of Survival. As the band describes, their latest record represented the end of a trilogy for them, freeing them up to move in new directions.

The band returned earlier this year with a trio of new singles, “Damages,” Falutlines” and “Glowworm,” and today they’re back with news of their forthcoming album, What It Cost, due out September 13th via Nettwerk.

Holl and Hillman have spent the years since The Beauty of Survival simplifying their musical approach and reimagining their music in more collaborative forms. They put together a live band with long-time collaborators and let the songs come together organically, with Nate Babbs on drums and Nick Morawiecki on guitar. As Holl explains, “We tried to keep the spirit of the band right there at the center: we had guitars, we had a piano, we had a bass and drums, and that is what we really leaned on. The story of this album is that of a band record. It is. We tried to stay true to whatever happened in the room together. This album is a snapshot of that time.”

Accompanying the announcement, the band have also shared another new track, “Show Me Love,” premiering with Under the Radar.

As the band describes, “Show Me Love” is a love letter from Hillman to his wife and children. It finds the band in a gentle and confessional mode, letting the track build organically from a sparse bed of keys into a beautiful ascendant apex. The band fills the track with negative space, letting the meditative keys and tender vocals take to the forefront in a vulnerable spotlit performance. Later, the swelling layers of instrumentation and warm vocal harmonies take the track into a gorgeous celestial realm, recalling the intimacy and grandeur of artists like Sufjan Stevens.

Holl explains, “We hadn’t written about the people in our lives in a while. Previously, everything had been quite conceptual, and we felt like we knew everything about going into the record. From the get-go, we intended to break that apart with this one.”

Pre-save the track here and watch accompanying live video below, along with the band’s upcoming tour dates. What It Costs is out on September 13th via Nettwerk.

U.K. TOUR DATES

All Dates Supporting Matthew And The Atlas

June 21 - Square Chapel - Halifax

June 22 - Future Yard - Birkenhead

June 23 - Esquires - Bedford

June 24 - Arts Centre - Colchester

June 26 - Jericho Tavern - Oxford

June 27 - The Musician - Leicester

June 28 - Music Hall - Ramsgate

June 29 - Pound Arts - Corsham