Toad The Wet Sprocket’s Phillips finally sets new solo release

Singer/songwriter Glen Phillips celebrates several milestones this year: the 25th anniversary Toad The Wet Sprocket’s seminal album "fear" and his fourth solo album (and first in a decade) with "Swallowed By The New," available Oct. 7.

Recorded in May 2015 with producer/bass player Paul Bryan (Aimee Mann, Lucinda Williams) and a small backing band, "Swallowed By The New" takes on life’s difficult transitions and delivers some of his most poignant and candid songs ever written.

“I wrote these songs in the difficult first year of [my] divorce process,” explains Glen. “I’m realizing now that everything was done from a place of love. In a period of transition we can feel injured, or use it as an opportunity to change and grow. These songs were the tools I used to get through that period. It’s a lesson I’m still trying to learn.”

"Amnesty," the first single, examines the long journey one takes searching for understanding and a safe harbor. “Home feels a million miles tonight/Hope feels a little hard to find/We're all stumbling towards the light /And we beg to be released/Would you offer amnesty?”

Although the subject matter can be somber, there’s a hopeful look to the future and reassuring tone as Glen describes a husband packing his belongings to begin anew in “Leaving Oldtown”: “I'm leaving Oldtown/With no direction, learning how to be alone/Learning how to stand on my own two feet/I’m getting good now”

“Now that a year has passed, I’m looking back, grateful for the opportunity to start again,” he refelcts. “With children growing up and leaving home, and my marriage dissolving, a chapter of my life was coming to a close. Difficult transitions are challenging, but ultimately rewarding.”

Glen Phillips will tour with summer with Toad The Wet Sprocket before embarking a solo, acoustic tour this fall.

Tour dates:

9/17 Pasadena, CA @ Levitt Pavilion
10/12 Austin, TX @ One World Theatre
10/13 The Woodlands, TX @ Dosey Doe Big Barn
10/15 Dallas, TX @ Kessler Theater w/ Lori McKenna
10/16 San Antonio, TX @ The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
10/27 Los Angeles, CA @ Hotel Cafe
10/28 Carlsbad, CA @ Museum of Making Music
11/2 Santa Barbara, CA @Soho Restaurant
11/3 Berkeley, CA @ Freight & Salvage
11/4 Felton, CA @ Don Quixote’s
11/5 Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s
11/6 Novato, CA @ Hopmonk Tavern
11/9 Portland, OR @ The Alberta Rose Theatre
11/10-11 Seattle, WA @ Columbia City Theater
11/12 Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett
11/13 Boise, ID @ The Sapphire Room @ Riverside Hotel
11/15 Salt Lake City, UT @ The State Room
11/19 Denver, CO @ Daniels Hall @ Swallow Hill Music
2/15-2/19 Tampa, FL @ Train’s Sail Across The Sun