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Kim Deal releases “Live at the Barbican” on 13 November: eighteen songs recorded at the Barbican in London on 1 March 2025, in front of a sold-out house. It is the first time in her career she has played with an orchestra — twenty-five musicians, plus the Shards choir.
The idea came to her while she was mixing her first solo album in Hackney. She called Chris Sharp, whom she had worked with at 4AD and who was then at the Barbican, to suggest playing those songs with a real orchestra, and Sharp said yes.
The set opens with “Nobody Loves You More”, “Coast” and “Crystal Breath”, from the album released on 22 November 2024, then moves through The Breeders catalogue and earlier standalone songs. The band is Mando Lopez, of The Breeders; Susan Voelz, of Poi Dog Pondering; Lindsay Glover; Nick White, from Phoebe Bridgers’ band; and Rob Bochnik, of The Frames. Raymond McGinley, of Teenage Fanclub, guests on “Come Running” and “A Good Time Pushed”.
It was mixed at Studio Black Box and mastered by Heba Kadry. It comes out digitally, on CD and on a limited magenta double vinyl, and is accompanied by a concert film of the same name directed by Cuan Roche, whose trailer is already up.
Text by Marçal Bonastre