Dinosaur Jr and Sebadoh’s Lou Barlow will release new solo album Reason to Live on May 28 via Joyful Noise. “I had been struggling for a way to connect both my home life and my recorded life,” Lou says of the album, “but this record is the first time I’ve integrated that,”

The first single from the album is “Over You,” which has a long history. ”Over You’ is based on one melody and lyric fragment I captured on cassette back in 1982 or so,” Lou says. “In 2019, I decided to resurrect and expand this nugget for my ‘Artist Enabler Series’ for Joyful Noise. I used some of the original lyrics: ‘I knew everything about you. I knew nothing about you’ and built on that feeling, the phrase ‘over you’ became the chorus. I recorded the basic tracks for the new version onto cassette in an attempt to mimic the atmosphere of the original.”

The video for “Over You,” which Lou directed with his wife Adele, plays off the lyrics. “I talked to my wife, Adelle, about things in our lives that we’ve never been ‘over.’ We moved from California six years ago, a place that we both loved. We started compiling home videos from our times living there (17 years in my case) and scenes from some ’80s movies that were filmed in LA. When we combined the footage it seemed to work with the song. I can’t say that I was thinking about anything specifically when I recorded Over You, it came from the general longing of my teenage years, but I can definitely say I miss the golden state.”

Watch the “Over You” video, and check out cover art and tracklist for the album, below.

Lou also has a new album with Dinosaur Jr. out on April 23 and they’ll tour this fall. You can also pick up a variety of Dino Jr albums in the BV shop.

Lou Barlow – Reason to Live tracklist:
In My Arms
Reason To Live
Why Can’t It Wait
Love Intervene
Privatize
I Don’t Like Changes
Clouded Age
Over You
How Do I Know
Cold One
Thirsty
Maumee
Lows and Highs
Paws
Tempted
All You People Suck
Act of Faith