A little over the year after the release of the band’s last LP, 2012’s “Cabin by the Sea,” The Dirty Heads are back with a new all-acoustic album, and Billboard has the exclusive premiere.
The California reggae act, best known for “Lay Me Down,” its 2010 hit with Sublime with Rome’s Rome Ramirez that hit No. 1 on the Rock Songs and Alternative Songs charts, is releasing “Home | Phantoms of Summer: The Acoustic Sessions,” the band’s first exclusively acoustic record through Five Seven Music. The six-piece wrote the album during its off-time this past summer, according to frontman Jared “Dirty J” Watson.
“It was a comfortable move from full production to an acoustic album,” Watson said. “We started as an acoustic act so we wanted to get back to our roots. We wanted to really dive into our lyrics and melodies.”
The 12-song album features a number of new songs, as well as a live version of 2012’s “Cabin by the Sea.” One new song in particular, “Garland,” came from Watson’s “vivid picture of walking with a woman in a white dress and a flower headband, through a garden in the moonlight,” explaining that she could take “all of my troubles away.”
Meanwhile, Watson explained that “Gold to Me” is about “loyalty and friendship” and “going through life,” while the titular ghoul in “Phantom” is “whoever you’re yearning for and might not be able to have.”
“Home | Phantoms of Summer: The Acoustic Sessions” is available for digital pre-order on iTunes ahead of its Oct. 29 release.