The Dear Hunter and multi-instrumentalist vocalist and songwriter Casey Crescenzo have announced their new album Act V: Hymns With The Devil In Confessional, out September 9 on Rude Records. The release of Act V comes a year after Act IV: Rebirth In Reprise.
In a statement from Crescenzo about the latest installment he says: “These two albums, Act IV and V, were written and recorded much in the same time frame – though each album retains its own unique identity, tone, and experience.” Crescenzo goes on to share “Act V, however, will be the final ‘rock’ record in the Act series. This may read as though I am abandoning the project, one record early – but the truth is simply that in knowing what Act VI means to the series, and what its story has to say – presenting it in the same form as Acts I-V would be short selling the creative opportunity it presents.”
Act V is available for pre-order starting today here: smarturl.it/TDH_ActV
Album art and full tracklisting can be seen below. The band is also sharing their first single “Gloria” from Act V on their site as well as iTunes and Spotify. All details and Crescenzo’s full statement as well can be found at TheDearHunter.com.
Listen to “Gloria” from Act V streaming now on TheDearHunter.com.
Last week 250 flexi postcards were sent out to select lifetime fan members. When played on a record player the postcards offer a spoken word message from one of the major characters from the Act storyline, Mr. Usher, teasing fans of the new record. The Act series is The Dear Hunter’s six album concept series chronicling the story of a boy at the turn of the century, only referred to as “The Dear Hunter.” From the beginning, it was a high-concept project: Crescenzo mapped out multi-page treatments for a six-album story arc about the birth, life, and abrupt death of a boy, set at the dawn of the 20th century. Act I: The Lake South, The River North, Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading and the third installment, Act III: Life and Death were released between 2006 and 2009 and Act IV: Rebirth In Reprise was released last year. Like Act IV, Act V features Bay Area musicians the Awesöme Orchestra with orchestration written by Crescenzo.