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Jun 18, 2024 By Marina Malin Photography by Erbu Yildiz/Chantal Anderson

Initiated by the suggestion of Merge’s co-found Mac McCaughn, TORRES (aka Mackenzie Scott) and Fruit Bats (aka Eric D. Johnson) have announced a new collaborative EP, A Decoration, and shared its first single, “Married for Love.” Scott and Johnson had never met before and are collaborating for the first time. A Decoration is due out August 9 on Merge, Below, listen to the new single, and find the EP’s setlist and cover art. Also below are tour dates for each artist.

Scott had this to say about their new single in a press release: “The recording we’re releasing is synthy, but the demo was darker and had no acoustic instruments on it. I sent it to [Johnson] and he turned it into what he described as a Quaker chant. He made it softer and added these beautiful harmonies, something you could almost imagine hearing in a church as opposed to the nightclubby vibe I had going.”

Johnson speaks of their collaboration: “The whole recording process wound up being done totally remotely with each of us on our respective coasts, it was like assembling a cross-continental jigsaw puzzle in the ether. Mackenzie and I worked on this in a breezy way where all ideas and sounds were fair game. We each brought a few sketches into the initial ideas pile and treated them in a way like we were doing remixes of each other’s songs. There were no wrong answers. The back and forth continued until the music was in a totally different place from where it began.”

Scott adds: “Music really is its own language. I’ve always believed that the best music is something that doesn’t need to be explained or discussed at all—you either get it or you don’t. With Eric, in terms of the musical language that was spoken, we didn’t have to talk that much at all; we just got what the other person was doing, which transcends personalities or conversation altogether.”

TORRES released a new album, What an enormous room, in January via Merge. It followed 2021’s Thirstier.

Read our 2020 interview with TORRES on Silver Tongue.

Read our 2017 interview with TORRES on Three Futures.

Read our 2015 interview with TORRES on Sprinter.

A Decoration EP Tracklist:

1. A Decoration
2. Still Want More
3. The Fox
4. Married for Love
5. In the Old Style
6. Pink Triangle

TORRES and Fruit Bats will be touring separately but will finally meet on July 25 at Merge 35, then July 26 at The Outpost in Asheville North Carolina.

Fruit Bats Tour Dates:

Jul 17 Boulder, CO – The Fox Theatre [SOLD OUT]
Jul 18 Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheater (w/ Dr. Dog) [SOLD OUT]
Jul 19 Kansas City, MO – Lemonade Park
Jul 20 St. Louis, MO – Big Top Open Air
Jul 21 Indianapolis, IN – Hi-Fi Annex
Jul 23 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
Jul 24 New York, NY – Racket
Jul 25 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle (Merge 35)
Jul 26 Asheville, NC – The Outpost w/TORRES
Jul 27 Lexington, KY – The Burl (Outdoors)
Jul 28 Pelham, TN – The Caverns
Sep 11 Westerly, RI – United Theatre
Sep 12 Portland, ME – Portland House of Music and Events [SOLD OUT]
Sep 13 South Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
Sep 14 Stone Ridge, NY – Meadowlark
Sep 20 Stockholm, SE – Maxim (solo)
Oct 18–19 Chicago, IL – My Sweet Midwest

TORRES Tour Dates:

Jul 18 Bloomington, IN – Switchyard Park
Jul 19 Cincinnati, OH – The Woodward Theater
Jul 20 Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
Jul 23 Richmond, VA – Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House
Jul 25 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle (Merge 35)
Jul 26 Asheville, NC – The Outpost w/ Fruit Bats
Jul 27 Macon, GA – Bragg Jam

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