American Aquarium Drop Details on Their New Album, ‘Chicamacomico
Just months after they surprised-released a covers album of country classics, the BJ Barham-fronted group American Aquarium have revealed that they’ve got new music in the works. Called Chicamacomico, the album’s tongue twister-esque title comes from the Hatteras Island, off the coast of North Carolina, and the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station — an active U.S. Coast Guard facility during the first half of the 20th century, and now a museum — that is located there.
The band shared the exciting news on social media, adding that fans could expect the full project to arrive during the summer of 2022. It will be recorded in November at Texas’ famed Sonic Ranch, which is the largest residential studio complex in the world. In the post, they shared what appeared to be the cover art of the new album: A painting of waves crashing into the shore of a beach, and a lone figure standing with their feet in the surf.
As they’ve done for their previous six studio albums, American Aquarium are crowd-sourcing the funds for Chicamacomico through advance preorders of the album.
“All (and I mean 100%) of the money from your preorder will go towards the recording, mixing, mastering, production and promotion of the record,” Barham wrote in the caption of the post. “Special incentives include signed, limited edition, alternate cover, colored vinyl…signed CDs, preorder only t-shirts, handwritten lyrics, your name in the liner notes, executive producer credits and even a few acoustic/full band house shows.”
The band included another exciting reason for fans to contribute: Anyone who preorders the album will receive updates on its progress, including the chance to hear demo versions of the new music. “We have the best fans in the entire world and we want you to be as much a part of the process as possible. Your preorder allows us the opportunity to make the record that we want to make, on our own terms, and for that we are forever grateful,” Barham continues.
In the hours that followed the news of American Aquarium’s new album, fans heeded the band’s call for support. Just under 46 hours later, the record was fully funded, and Barham posted an update to thank fans for their quick, enthusiastic response.
“‘That You’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. We know how much trust it takes to buy a record you’ve never heard, nine months in advance, and we have no plans on letting you down,” he said. “I’m beyond proud of this new batch of tunes and can’t wait for you to hear what we cook up next month…”
As an additional way of showing how much the fan support meant to him, Barham shared a video of him playing the title track of Chicamacomico on acoustic guitar, describing the track as “a heavy song.”
“I’ll have a much lengthier personal story about this song at a later date, but for now, here’s ‘Chicamacomico,'” he added. “Thanks for listening.”
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