VIA PRESS RELEASE | The songwriting of Southern rock ‘n’ roll provocateur Tav Falco will be celebrated on his 14th studio album, Desire on Ice. With basic tracks recorded at Sam Phillips Recording Services in Memphis, Tennessee, Desire on Ice was created over an 18-month period by Falco and his longtime producer and musical partner, Mario Monterosso.
Undoubtedly the most ambitious project in the artist’s 40-plus-year career, Desire on Ice features an astonishing lineup of all-star talent who are sympatico with his singular flair and vision. The album will be released on LP, CD, and digital formats by Org Music on September 12. Pre-order now at Org Music. The first digital single, “Doomsday Baby,” features guest vocals by Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream. The song appeared in its original form on Falco’s 2015 album, Command Performance, but its themes of political tumult and emerging authoritarianism now sound even more urgent and prophetic.
“The concept for Desire on Ice was developed by Mario after having lived with my music for a long time,” says Falco, “that of rendering these original songs—written solely by me, others in musical collaboration—with newly-evolved treatments. Although sui generis in their original forms, these songs now manifest in unlikely ways.”
The oldest song on the album, the live favorite “Cuban Rebel Girl,” dates to 1986. Desire on Ice also features one new original, “Crying for More,” as well as a “Prologue” and “Epilogue” conceptualized and developed by Monterosso.
The lineup of featured players on Desire on Ice is impressive. The sessions were anchored by the members of Falco’s current touring band, Panther Burns: guitarist Mario Monterosso, bassist Giuseppe Sangirardi, and drummer Walter Brunetti. The guests include Ann Magnuson, Nicole Atkins, Jolie Holland, Bobby Gillespie, Pete Molinari, Kid Congo Powers, Jon Spencer, Rev. Horton Heat, Jimmy Rip, Chris Spedding, Boz Boorer, Richard Barone, Eddie Angel, Bubba Feathers, Chris Maxwell, Charlie Musselwhite, Mirko Dettori, Kai Eric, Rene Coman, Bertrand Burgalat, Alex Greene, Michael Perry Allen, Jim Sclavunos, and Ross Johnson, among others. Memphis writer and longtime Panther Burns confidante Robert Gordon has contributed new liner notes for the release.
“I began my collaboration with Tav in 2014,” recalled Monterosso. “After many tours and recording five records with him, I feel like we’ve built something special over this decade. Desire on Ice represents my vision of Tav Falco, and the evolution we’ve made together.”
Musician, filmmaker, performer, and all-around cultural conjurer, Tav Falco moves with ease between Memphis juke joints and Weimar cabarets, blends tango, vocal jazz, rockabilly, and noir Americana into a personal mythology, and does it all with a wink and a streak of cultivated danger.
His soul is part Neapolitan, part Southern gothic, part Buenos Aires café, and part backroom of an old Paris cinema. Falco has written books, directed films, and embraced African American and Argentine traditions with equal curiosity. He has been fronting Panther Burns since 1979—a loose vehicle for outcasts, hipsters, and other beautiful misfits.
