aaamusic | On 21, May 2012

Singer, songwriter, piano-slayer, super blogger, Amanda Palmer is preparing to release her first new studio album in four years, in conjunction with her new band, The Grand Theft Orchestra, featuring Michael McQuilken, Chad Raines and Jherek Bischoff. The album, ‘Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra’, recently recorded in Melbourne and produced by John Congleton (St. Vincent, Modest Mouse), will be released in September 2012.

‘Do It With A Rock Star’, is the first new track from the album to be made available online as a FREE download from Amanda’s website.

Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra will embark on a six city tour this June, unveiling the new album as a series of intimate performances alongside a dynamic visual art exhibit featuring 30 contemporary artists to include Shepard Fairey, Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses), David Mack and Cynthia Von Buhler.

There has rarely been an Amanda Palmer or Dresden Dolls release without a strong visual art component, and Palmer has pulled no punches with this album: Amanda has commissioned 30 unique artists (many of whom are musicians as well) to create work inspired by her new album. This art will be featured – live on local gallery walls – in a traveling “Pop-Up” art exhibit that will touch down in 6 cities across the U.S. and Europe, where Amanda & The Grand Theft Orchestra will perform exclusive acoustic shows within the gallery to reward local Kickstarter backers. Palmer explains: “I’m pretty sure I became a musician so I’d have an excellent excuse to throw an Art Party everywhere I went. This upcoming gallery tour is about as close as I get to fulfilling that fantasy. Wine flowing, visual art and artists everywhere, music playing loudly, everybody excited about the album in one tiny room, jumping up and down…it doesn’t get any better than that, really.”

In addition to her 6 city travelling art show this summer, Amanda and her band will debut her new songs to the UK public at an intimate rock gig as a warm up for their full UK tour (in much larger venues) this autumn.  Public tickets are SOLD OUT for the June UK rock gig, BUT a limited number of tickets to these small shows can still be found on Kickstarter.