Today is the release date of Seth Glier’s new album, Birds. This is the fifth record from the songwriter’s songwriter and along with his own absorbing originals, given the state of the world today, it includes a fitting cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.”

As part of his Pledge campaign, Glier reflected on the origins of the album, noting, “To explain what’s behind this record, I must first explain the environment it was created in. Fall in New England is like watching the most brilliant death. The air is honest. There is a sacred sound when the sky is full of geese. There is a bright gorgeousness deeply woven into the dying of all things. I started looking at fall this way about two autumns ago. It was around the time my brother passed away. I wanted some sort of meaning to come from my loss of him. I started looking for signs and signals of his transformation, so much so that I began to have conversations with the birds who sat on my window sill during the day As I’d play piano by the window and work out the shape of each melody, I would frequently stop and ask the birds how they thought it was going so far. My heart wanted more than anything to hear a reply back. I’m still waiting for their reply but make a point of talking to them regularly. It was Ernest Hemingway who said, ‘Sometimes following your heart means losing your mind.’

“Over time, the grief of my brother leaving this world transformed to grieving the very world I wanted him so desperately to return to. Perhaps the transformation I was looking for was actually a transformation in myself. This record is not so much about grief as it is about growth. The decision to record this album from home and play almost all of the instruments was about giving the songs the kind of protection and insularity they desired, the kind I had growing up in a small New England town. These songs didn’t want to venture far from origin. Instead, they desired staying close to the windows. With the help of co-producer Steve Lunt and mixing engineer David Darlington, I couldn’t be more proud of what we came up with.”

Today we premiere the official video for “Sunshine.” Glier tells Relix, “I wrote ‘Sunshine’ while living out of a storage unit for about a year. I was in the middle of a lot of things; an apartment, a relationship, and my parents were in the middle of a divorce. My piano was the last thing I loaded into the storage unit so I could just open up the door and practice when I needed to. Sunshine was written to an audience of cardboard boxes in a 5×8. Practicing, and therapy, got me through that time.”

Seth Glier will support Birds, with an extensive national tour and the complete dates are listed below the video.

Seth Glier Tour Dates

Sept 1-3 – Kerrville, TX – Kerrville Fall Festival
Sept 7 – Fall River, MA – Narrows Center For The Arts
Sept 10 – Spring Lake, MI – Courtyard Concerts
Sept 21 – Easton, MD – Avalon Theater
Sept 22 – Bay Shore, NY – Boulton Center
Sept 24 – Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live
Sept 29 – Portsmouth, NH – The Music Hall Loft
Sept 30 – Concord, NH – Spotlight Cafe – Capitol Center For The Arts
Oct 13 – Rockland, ME – The Strand Theatre
Oct 15 – Rockville, MD – Focus Music
Oct 18 – Nashville, TN – The Country
Oct 19 – Winchester, VA – Sweet Nola’s
Oct 20 – Waynesboro, VA – Wayne Theater
Oct 21 – Asheville, NC – Isis Music Hall
Oct 25 – Worthington, OH – Natalie’s
Oct 28 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School of Folk Music
Oct 29 – Marshfield, WI – Vox Concert Series
Nov 1 – Carbondale, CO – Steve’s Guitars
Nov 2 – Fort Collins, CO – Fort Collins Downtown Artery
Nov 3 – Denver, CO – Walnut Room
Nov 4 – Aspen, CO – Wheeler Opera House
Nov 5 – Pueblo, CO – Brues Alehouse Brewing Company
Nov 8 – Tulsa, OK – Woody Guthrie Center
Nov 9 – Oklahoma City, OK – The Blue Door
Nov 11 – Austin, TX – Cactus Café
Nov 12 – Houston, TX – Midtown Arts & Theatre Center
Nov 16 – Boston, MA – Club Passim
Nov 19 – Portland, ME – One Longfellow Square
Nov 25 – Pomfret, CT – Vanilla Bean Café
Nov 26 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Caffe Lena
Nov 29 – Lancaster, PA – Tellus 360
Nov 30 – New York, NY – Rockwood Music Hall
Dec 1 – Northampton, MA – Iron Horse Music Hall
Dec 2 – Northampton, MA – Iron Horse Music Hall
Dec 28 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark