Song of the Day: Ty Segall - Orange Color Queen

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is "Orange Color Queen" by Ty Segall, from his forthcoming self-titled album, due January 27th on Drag City.

Ty Segall - Orange Color Queen (MP3)

Any news of new Ty Segall is cause for celebration, but this song doesn't come as too big of a surprise for us, at least not since Ty and his sometime Mugger in crime, Cory Hanson, performed it for KEXP during an exclusive acoustic session live in the woods at Pickathon two summers ago. Fans who saw the video and heard the song wondered about its fate. Now we know. In just about two months from today, on January 27th, Ty Segall will release a self-titled LP containing the song on Drag City Records. Though it's his ninth under his own name, Ty Segall seems a bit of a reboot, in that he's forgone his usual self-recorded and overdubbed approach and brought to the studio a full backing band, consisting of Emmett Kelly and Mikal Cronin, who both played in Ty Segall & The Muggers, Charles Moothart of Ty's other band Fuzz, and new-to-Ty pianist Ben Boye.

If the official version of "Orange Color Queen" is any indication, the forthcoming LP will be a bit less raw and ragged than this year's excellent but uncompromising Emotional Mugger. The sweet, Beatles-meets-T.Rex-like tune is an ode to the true Orange Color Queen, Ty's girlfriend Denée, but really anyone in love can relate to the warmth found in the arms of another and the fondness we have for them when they're away. ("Wake me up before you go / to the other side of the world that we all know"... "the morning sun wants to know / it wants to know where you go")

Ty Segall will be sharing that warmth immediately on releasing his self-titled LP an January 27th, starting that night in San Diego and eventually hitting Neumo's in Seattle on March 2nd. Tickets are already on sale! Look for more dates and info on his website and label page. For now, check out his performance from 2015 of "Orange Color Queen", acoustic with Cory Hanson of Wand, live in the woods at Pickathon: