Portland singer-songwriter Laura Veirs is back with a brand new album. Temple Songs, out August 14 via her own Raven Marching Band label, is the singer's 14th record. It's named after the studio Veirs built for herself in her backyard, dubbed the Temple of Bloom.

Listen to first single "Flying Into Darkness" below alongside a video filmed by Veirs herself:

Of the first song, Veirs explains:

“This song comes from a feeling of being existentially unmoored in a dark, uncertain moment. I kept circling the same questions: how do I stay grounded? How do I feel like I’m doing some real good, nudging things–even slightly–in a better direction? At its core, the song wrestles with restlessness–how hard it is to find true rest when the world keeps us in a constant state of unease. There’s also a thread of ‘No Masters’ running through it, which shows up across the album. I’m reaching for a world shaped more by freedom and love than by greed and fear, and all the ways those forces show up in daily life: hollow work, vast inequality, systems that feel too big to push against, and the steady backdrop of violence and conflict.” 

Temple Songs is the first album that Veirs has written, recorded, arranged, produced, and performed entirely by herself, with a single saxophone assist in one song being the album's only guest.

In a press release, she states “I wanted to make something that sounds as organic and human as possible,” which explains some of the austerity of the recording setup: reportedly just two microphones in a small room, that wasn't even explicitly built for recording.

“I needed to make this album to connect more deeply with my taste, aesthetics, and confidence. I wrestled with a lot of doubt,” Veirs says. “But there were many happy accidents and eventually I found a flow—seeing the studio again, for the first time since my 20s, as a private place for exploration.”

Veirs will also be heading out on a September-October tour in the UK, Ireland, and the US. Find all those dates below.

Temple Songs is out August 14. Preorder here. Full tracklist:

1. Arc Still Bends
2. Golden Seams
3. Pulse
4. Feeling Returns
5. Flying Into Darkness
6. Colors Sing
7. Out From Undercover
8. New Life Over There
9. No Masters
10. River’s Song
11. Sunlight and Doom

Tour Dates:

09/10 Cambridge, UK @ Storey’s Field Centre
09/10 Sheffield, UK @ Upper Chapel
09/10 Newcastle, UK @ Cluny 2
09/10 Glasgow, UK @ Saint Luke’s
09/10 Manchester, UK @ St. Michael’s
09/10 London, UK @ Earth
09/10 Southampton, UK @ Papillon
09/10 Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew
09/10 Birmingham, UK @ Kitchen Garden Cafe
09/10 Nottingham, UK @ Old Cold Store09/10 Galway, IE @ Monroe’s
09/10 Dublin, IE @ Whelan’s
09/10 Belfast, UK @ The Black Box
09/10 Kilkenny, IE @ Cleere’s
10/08 Vienna, VA @ Jammin Java
10/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Nikki Lopez
10/10 New York, NY @ Cafe Wha
10/11 Boston, MA @ Club Passim
10/13 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern
10/14 Columbus, OH @ Natalie’s
10/15 Evanston, IL @ Space
10/16 Fort Atkinson, WI @ Cafe Carpe
10/17 Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
10/19 Los Angeles, CA @ Peppermint Club
10/20 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord
10/22 Trout Lake, WA @ Trout Lake Hall
10/23 Vashon, WA @ Open Space for Arts & Community
10/24 Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
10/25 Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
10/26 Mount Vernon, WA @ Lincoln Theatre

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