John Moreland's “Harder Dreams” will have you feeling seen and heard

How do you survive under capitalism and still keep your soul? When every click, like, and maybe even eye movement is tracked by a corporate A.I. and mirrored back to sell an aspirational life you can’t afford and probably won’t find happiness in? Is that too dark? I can go on. When every waking moment of your day is spent trying to sidestep the vampiric entity of capitalism, don’t you ever wonder if the Gods are looking down and laughing at us trying to escape by buying a new beer, an iPad, or shoes?

John Moreland doesn’t wonder, he knows. The Oklahoma singer, who will release his fifth solo album LP5 in February 2020, gets right into it with his latest single “Harder Dreams,” premiering below. It’s a soothing track that cuts right to the core of existence on this plane and asks what’s up with it. Of the song, Moreland told the FADER:

“This song started with a drum machine loop, and the acoustic guitar part. A couple days later, I wrote the lyrics pretty quickly. I haven’t stopped to think about what it’s about or anything, but it was the first demo that John Calvin and I did for the record, and it felt good, and set the tone for a lot of the instrument & arrangement choices on the record.”

Rude of him to be able to write a song so poignant without thinking too much about it. And by rude, I mean deeply uplifting.

LP5 Tour Dates

March 14 - Bentonville, AR - Meteor Guitar Gallery *
March 15 - Little Rock, AR - South On Main *
March 17 - Birmingham, AL - Saturn *
March 18 - Atlanta, GA - Terminal West *
March 20 - Nashville, TN - Basement East ^
March 21 - Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theatre ^
March 22 - Asheville, NC - The Grey Eagle ^
March 24 - Saxapahaw, NC - Haw River Ballroom ^
March 25 - Washington, DC - Black Cat ^
March 27 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg ^
March 28 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live ^
March 29 - Boston, MA - The Sinclair ^
March 31 - Montreal, QC - L'Esco ^
April 1 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern ^
April 3 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall ^
April 4 - East Moline, IA - The Rust Belt ^
April 5 - Milwaukee, WI - The Back Room at Colectivo ^
April 7 - Minneapolis, MN - The Fine Line ^
April 8 - Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room ^
April 9 - Wichita, KS - The Wave ^
April 11 - Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre ^
April 30 - Dallas, TX - The Kessler Theater +
May 1 - Houston, TX - The Heights Theater +
May 2 - Austin, TX - Antone's +
May 5 - Tuscon, AZ - 191 Toole +
May 7 - Los Angeles, CA - Teragram Ballroom +
May 8 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent +
May 10 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge +
May 12 - Vancouver, BC - Wise Hall +
May 13 - Seattle, WA - The Neptune Theatre +
May 15 - Salt Lake City, UT - State Room +
May 16 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater +
May 17 - Colorado Spring, CO - Lulu's Downstairs +

* w/ Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster
^ w/ S.G. Goodman
+ w/ Will Johnson