🥤 SIPSMAN COMMUNIQUE: June 2026

Lily Seabird • Thomas Dollbaum • Lambchop • Vorhex Angel • Jacob Ungerleider • POP Montréal • Hollow Hand • Brown Horse

Six trips in three months! I left the mangled Sipsman banner in Mexico City 🫡

LILY SEABIRD
Her third record in as many years is called Lightspheres on Their Way, and I think it’s so fucking wild and assured in its arrangements and sonics. Seabird recorded the nine tracks in Maine with her band the first week of January, the same time as “Demon in Me.” LPs and CDs will be in stores during her September UK tour, with digital to follow just ahead of southeast dates with Black Country, New Road. Shoutout to Lame-O Records for wanting to work quick and flex a little. “Election Day” from the album is out now, her fastest and loudest song to date, my favorite vocal performance of hers in a sea of contenders. That second chorus 😮‍💨 happy to see this one on the radar of the folks behind Evil Speakers and Stereogum. Don’t miss Seabird and her band at Green River Fest this weekend, where cellist Eliza Niemi will join to contribute her parts from the record and more.

THOMAS DOLLBAUM
Birds of Paradise is out in the world, at last. Rolling Stone called it “the best South­ern indie-rock record you’ll hear this year” in their June issue, then included it in their Best Albums of 2026 So Far. A brief-but-glowing ★★★★ from Mojo in their July issue, which you’ll just have to believe unless you too can see into the future. Dollbaum and his band just kicked off their tour with Widowspeak last night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, with a sidequest to Nelsonville Music Fest this weekend. Philly and DC are sold out, and before Dollbaum’s west coast tour with Lucero, his band will play a freshly sold out headline gig in LA on July 7. Don’t sleep on TD!

LAMBCHOP
Partly inspired by lined-out hymnody and fully fueled by the imagination of Kurt Wagner, Lambchop’s seventeenth album Punching the Clown is sure to chew you up and spit you out (complimentary) when it lands August 21 via Merge / City Slang. “Stella” is the second single offered to the streaming gods, a song about love and friendship, as only Wagner can write it: heart-wrenching, yet without a trace of kitsch. The first night of his monthly residency at Crooners Supper Club in Minneapolis is June 28 and now sold out. Do not miss your chance to see Lambchop redefine midwest supper club culture.

JACOB UNGERLEIDER
Last month, the Los Angeles songwriter announced his debut record Congratulations (out next week via Jenn Wasner’s new label 2 Heads) with “Letters of Your Name,” a groovy, deceptively complex number that is getting its due on Apple Music’s New Music Daily, INDIY, and elsewhere. Shoutout to communiqué reader “Justin” who submitted this lil number to Paul Cherry’s Hidden Gems, absolutely loved their reaction. Ungerleider’s showing the range of Congratulations with followup single “Blacksburg,” his folkiest song on the record, musically upbeat while lyrically remorseful about a past relationship (and their “pomeranian I would pretend to like”). Have you got your tickets to the June 28 record release show at Pasadena’s Healing Force of the Universe?

VORHEX ANGEL
As of last Friday, DRAIN is in many independent record stores on 2-LP and CD via Soul Selects and Well Kept Secret; find the one nearest you with this handy map! While it won’t arrive on streaming services in full until July 08 (excluding Spotify), Kunal Prakash and the Orrall brothers shared an edit of “A Spark” from the album, paring glacial sonics with vivid imagery: “The solemn glow of an emerald / Shining in the dark / A snake wrapped around the alter / A message / A spark”. I was lucky enough to catch Vorhex Angel at their barnburner release show for DRAIN last weekend, and cannot urge you enough to catch their tour with pedal steel maestro Luke Schneider which kicks off July 16 at Trans-Pecos. All dates on the band’s website.

POP MONTREAL
The annual non-profit curated cultural event that champions independence in the arts has unveiled its 25th edition, once again giving you the perfect excuse to discover your favorite new artists in a world-class city during the best time of year to visit. I’m personally excited about seeing two of Canada’s finest songwriters—Chad VanGaalen and Charlotte Cornfield—and I love the idea of my first Dale Watson & His Lone Stars show being in Montréal and not at his chicken shit bingo nights in Austin. May Nardwaur interview all three of them, together.

HOLLOW HAND
Wish Road South is the forthcoming record from this Brighton, UK group centered around the songwriting of Max Kinghorn-Mills, due September 4 via Loose Music / Soundly. In tandem with album details is first single “Here Are The Tulips,” the catalyst for the album’s sound and a breezy, infectious, and melodic piece of folk-pop. The song’s lyrics—focusing on capturing small stories of everyday life, as it depicts the bus journey that Hollow Hand’s Max Kinghorn-Mills was frequently taking to the studio—set the mood for unfussy but emotive writing. Fans of The Clientele, The Velvet Underground, and Fairport Convention would be wise to click play.

BROWN HORSE
Norwich, UK indie country upstarts Brown Horse will return to the states in August after a wildly successful spring tour—their first across the pond, in support of their new album Total Dive—which included sold out shows in Chicago, Boston, and NYC. This time around, tour will kick off with a pair of shows at Brooklyn’s Union Pool on August 29 & 30, and conclude at Mohawk’s Indoor Stage on September 26. In between, the band will play a handful of sets during Nashville’s Americanafest, and share stages on select dates with Drive-By Truckers and Houndmouth. Check out Brooklyn Vegan and Exclaim! for dates.