Label: Gar Hole Released 10/31/2025 Refugia Blues, the fifth album from Nick Shoulders, is a record of big ideas and small, intimate moments. These nine songs are rooted in the stylings of Southern traditional music. Sparse, timeless, and unamplified, they're older than the sounds Shoulders saluted on albums like 2023's All Bad, with its loud, whooping anthems for roadhouses and sweaty dancehalls. Here, Shoulders isn't shouting over a band. He isn't bringing a crowd to its feet with dance-ready tempos. Rather, he's exploring another side of his craft by stepping up to a ribbon microphone as a solo performer, delivering each song with acoustic instruments and a voice that's equal parts country croon, Appalachian yodel, and high-lonesome field holler. As he explains it, Refugia Blues isn't just a call to action; it's a call to rest, too. Shoulders' interpretation of American roots music has always been more progressive and punky than the trucks-and-beers conservatism that passes for modern-day country. Refugia Blues offers songs about climate collapse, radical anthropology, and generative disruption. It balances the macro with the micro, too, making room for love songs and personal topics, packaging humor alongside heavy insights. At once academic and accessible, Refugia Blues isn't just a deep dive into southernness, but also into Shoulders himself. This is a raw, resolute version of American country music, stacked high with songs that go down easy but linger in the minds of those willing to invest the time. Track listing: Apocalypse Never Bored Fightin' Hill Folk Western Meta Sin Deux Hurry Sorrow Floats Dixie Be Damned Tatum Springs Diggin' Up Bones
