The tour is in support of her highly-anticipated debut album, “Nobody Loves You More,” which was released on Nov. 22 to much acclaim.
Deal is a transformative force in the music industry. Known for her pioneering work with two legendary alternative rock bands, Pixies and the Breeders, her influence spans four decades and continues to inspire countless fans and fellow artists, especially locally — this concert celebrates Kim and her place in Dayton’s vibrant musical history.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to get to host this show at the Brightside and add Dayton to the tour,” said Carli Dixon, co-owner of the Brightside. “And as a female-led venue, it’s a great joy for us to host Kim Deal, such a local female hero to all of us. We couldn’t be more excited.”
After the Dayton kickoff show, Deal’s tour will continue on to London, Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Barcelona and more throughout 2025.
“Nobody Loves You More” is Deal’s first solo album, although technically not the first release under her own name — she self-released a five-part, 10-song 7″ vinyl series in 2013, which featured earlier versions of “Are You Mine?” and “Wish I Was” from the new record.
The first single, “Coast,” was recorded by the late influential audio engineer Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago. The song features sister Kelley Deal (guitar), former Breeders member Mando Lopez (bass) and Lindsay Glover (drums).
According to a press release, Kim wrote “Coast” in 2020 after attending a friend’s wedding. There, the house band, the Grape Whizzers — which included members of another local favorite, the Buffalo Killers — jammed through Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville” with “revelatory levels of low self-esteem.”
But the roots of “Coast” reach back as far as 2000, when Kim spent a rough off-season in Nantucket among young surfers who were constantly “check(ing) the WAM” for water conditions. The result is a lavish production with an enviable melody and marching band flair that charmingly introduces Deal’s debut full-length solo effort.
In March 2020, while in the Florida Keys, Deal began a digital collaboration with English band Savages’ rhythm section, Fay Milton and Ayse Hassan. Deal convinced her engineer friend Ben Mumphrey to procure equipment to overdub her parts on what would become the seventh track, “Big Ben Beat.” A few days after the sessions, the COVID-19 lockdown began and Kim shacked up in the Keys for the next five months.
She eventually drove back to her Dayton home base with a new Pro Tools rig and myriad unfinished songs and demos. She and New Orleans-based Mumphrey resumed their sessions remotely, taking advantage of her basement studio with vintage preamps and microphones.
Kim continued those sessions several nights a week through 2021. When travel restrictions lifted, she resumed in-person recording sessions with Albini at Electrical Audio, always returning to the basement for further work.
The album’s final recording took place in Nov. 2022, with Albini, Kelley and Breeders drummer Jim Macpherson contributing to “A Good Time Pushed.”
Mixing sessions took place in London with Marta Salogni. Former Breeder Britt Walford also appears on “Nobody Loves You More,” as do new collaborators, like The Greenhorns’ Jack Lawrence.
The album artwork, designed by Alex Da Corte, touches on the doomed final voyage of conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader, who disappeared while traversing the Atlantic Ocean in 1975.
Da Corte showed Kim a photo of Ader just before he set sail, and it spoke to her current obsession with the concept of failure. Now, there on the cover of “Nobody Loves You More,” is Kim re-enacting her own voyage — a sonic voyage we can only hope she continues on for several more albums.
Brandon Berry writes about the Dayton and Southwest Ohio music and art scene. Have a story idea for him? Email branberry100@gmail.com
How to go
What: Kim Deal in concert
When: 8 p.m., Feb. 20
Where: The Brightside, 905 E. 3rd St., Dayton
Cost: $30 general admission
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