The BIG STIR RECORDS Halloween party continues with a new, spine-chilling single from Ohio's own LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS. “Ghoul You Want” is the lead track on the new collection CHILLING, THRILLING HOOKS AND HAUNTED HARMONIES, and it gets a standalone release on October 17 to cement its status as classic for this scary season and many more to come. It'll be accompanied by a music video evoking the age of VHS fright night rentals, and it's up for pre-order and pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/lwh-gyw

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS are no strangers to songs of the supernatural: one of their most memorable hits was “Ghost Singer” from their second album, the 2022 breakthrough HANDCLAPS & TAMBOURINES. Fresh off the success of album number three, last year's HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS BY TELEPHONE, the Librarians – singer-guitarist-multinstrumentalists RAY CARMEN and MIKE CROOKER – were poised to deliver a terrifying tale for CHILLING, THRILLING HOOKS AND HARMONIES, Big Stir's collection of all-new music for Halloween (out now as a Deluxe Double LP set, a CD, and Streaming everywhere), and with “Ghoul You Want” they do just that. The song is such a rush of of jangling menace blended with macabre humor – think The Church or The Mighty Lemon Drops with lyrics penned by Zacherle or Bobby “Boris” Pickett – that it was a clear pick to open the album.

Landing the lead track is quite an honor considering that the track list also includes superlative offerings from The Strawberry Alarm Clock, Splitsvile, The Spongetones, The Jack Rubies, Graham Parker and beloved indie bands like sparkle*jets u.k. and The Armoires (who delivered the first and second CHILLING, THRILLING singles). But where those artists stake out their own territory within the wide open field of scary subject matter, zeroing in on witches, Frankenstein's monster, alien invaders or the very Devil, LWH go directly, vampirically, for the jugular of the horror genre itself, and in “Ghoul,” they deliver a definitive song for All Hallow's Eve.

Mike and Ray explain it thusly: “On this song, we pay tribute to the Halloween season by delivering a tune that doesn’t just give a wink and a nod to both Devo and Cliff Richard, but also bows before the altar of the late great Ernie Anderson, legend of Cleveland late night television, hosting grade Z horror movies under the name Ghoulardi. Only a band from Northeast Ohio could come up with something like this tale of a midnight deal gone wrong, or maybe it went right?” They slyly add a nod to the quintessential horror rockers, The Cramps – “Stay sick friends!!” – and then vanish into the night.

They'll be back, not only with new music, but every Halloween henceforth, as both “Ghoul You Want” and the full CHILLING, THRILLING HOOKS AND HAUNTED HARMONIES album are destined to become annual traditions each October. The eerie green vinyl discs and that board game in the gatefold (featuring LWH and all the other artists and monsters of the album) guarantee it, and LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS kick it all off with fiendish delight. Stay sick indeed!

BIG STIR RECORDS is proud to announce the November 8 CD and Streaming release of the third album from Akron, Ohio's LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS BY TELEPHONE. Featuring 12 tracks of sparkling, melodic guitar pop (including the hit indie singles “Hello Operator” and “No More Goodbyes”), the album is a grand leap forward for a band already acclaimed for the jangling textures and instantly memorable melodies of their first two albums (and an unbroken string of hit indie singles). The new record is up for pre-order and pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/lwh-htmfbt

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS have come a long way in a short time, establishing themselves as a vital force on the modern power pop and jangle rock landscape. It was just 2020 when the debut album LONG OVERDUE saw the band, anchored by the twin-guitar sound of Mike Crooker and Ray Carmen (whose inviting tenor completes the unmistakable LWH sound) burst onto the scene, before the 2022 breakthrough HANDCLAPS & TAMBOURINES cemented their reputation as indie pop mainstays. Those records provided a seemingly endless string of singles with true staying power on global radio – irresistible earworms like “That Time Is Now”, “I Can't Stop Thinking About You”, “Ghost Singer” and “Can't Wait 'Till Summer” – whose titles alone suggest the power pop classics of yore. All of the tunes delivered on that promise: these were breezy, instantly gripping A-sides in the time-honored mold, eminently deserving of the many spins and chart placements on terrestrial and online rock radio they received. And in 2024, their latest, the recent “Hello Operator” and the freshly-released “No More Goodbyes”, have proven to be their best and most widely celebrated tracks yet.

It would be remarkable enough if Librarians With Hickeys were simply consistently delivering radio-ready pop gems, but the new tracks hint at – and the album immediately confirms – a new focus and depth without any sacrifice of the band's keen melodic instincts and accessible, hook-driven sound. The songs on HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS BY TELEPHONE stand alone as always, but there's a palpable sea change that comes along with the band's move from the four-piece lineup that established them on the Akron live scene to the core duo of Carmen and Crooker, who play and sing almost everything on the new record, retaining and even expanding the full-band sound. The resulting focus on the band's signature Rickenbacker-and-Strat interplay drives “Hello Operator” to new heights, and across the album, it frames the sharpest set of melodies and lyrics the Librarians have yet delivered. And beyond being a stack of tunes which could all be singles on their own merits – which it is! – the album, from its title to the thematic concerns that surface throughout the lyrics to its songs, makes a deeper statement as a singular work this time out.

“When we began writing songs for their follow-up to Handclaps & Tambourines, we didn’t intend on writing a concept album about telecommunications. And HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS BY TELEPHONE isn’t a concept album by any means (thank heavens)!” says Crooker. “But it does comment on how people struggle to communicate with each other. From the opening track, 'Hello Operator' – based on a true story about Ray calling the operator every day when he was four years old just because he liked talking to her – to the last track, 'Everything Will Be All Right' – an epic reminder to put your phone down at night – we wanted to make sure the record has all the hooks, melodies and harmonies you’ve come to expect from us, while incorporating some overarching nods to that theme of the challenges of connection in the modern world... even though we use some vintage imagery to express it.” Antique telecommunications loom large on those tracks, in the cleverly retro cover art, and on “Ship To Shore”, with wistful and yearning sea shanty vibe, Smiths-like guitar figures, and lyrics about trying to communicate with a loved one overseas, who may – or may not – be waiting for them when they get home.

The struggle to be understood is the cornerstone for “Have You Heard,” a punchy up-tempo call to arms, a lower-case anthem to finding a deeper connection in the quieter moments “‘tween the dream and the seen, the mystery and what it means.” The refrain “Can you hear me now?” sums up many of the album's central questions, but it wouldn't do to frame HTMFBT as a one note affair. It's got tunes about everything from trying to get the attention of someone you’re crushing on, being true to yourself even (or especially) when it pisses people off, throwing people out of your house, and drowning your sorrows after a break up and even a nod to classic cinema espionage on the Attractions-inspired “Spying By The Numbers”. For all topics they touch on, though, Librarians With Hickeys have few peers in crafting classy, classic songs of love and longing in the '60s pop vein: “Brand New Boyfriend”, “You Don't Know Me” and “Out Of Your Hair” all play like lost classics from the AM era, and ably amplify the heartfelt joy in the creation of music that suffuses the album from start to finish.

While the Librarians’ power pop sound will always be the main attraction, they have always liked taking musical detours – consider the garage rock of “Leave Me Alone” from Long Overdue, or the pastoral Cambridge folk of “The Last Days Of Summer” from Handclaps. HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS is no exception, as the band experiments with Celtic sounds on the aforementioned “Ship To Shore” (which could pass for the theme to a BBC drama), the country vibe of “What Happened To My Heart” (by all means bring your own beer, but for the love of God leave the line dancing at home) and the taut, urgent postpunk of “Mirror”. The latter isn't the exception it might seem, though. More than ever, LWH is just as informed by the jangling atmospherics of '80s college rock titans like The Church and the Bunnymen as The Beatles and The Byrds.

In fact, there's a strong argument that the band's magic lies in their ability to seamlessly blend the sounds of those eras (and indeed the whole of pop rock history) and move them into the modern indie world as if it's all happening at once. And in a sense, it is: HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS BY TELEPHONE is simply crammed with jangly pop goodness that's genuinely deserving of the overused superlative “timeless”. LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS needn't be concerned with coming through loud and clear... for the past four years, fans worldwide have been listening intently, and since the bow of their first new single this year, they've been waiting patiently for the band's next full-length communiqué. It has finally arrived. Can you hear them now? Good.

With a new album from LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS just around the corner, the Ohio indie rockers bring you the second preview single: “No More Goodbyes”, hitting all digital platforms accompanied by an all-new video on October 4. The followup to their global indie radio hit “Hello Operator”, it sets the stage for the announcement of the bands' keenly-awaited third full-length record. The single is up for pre-order/pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/lwh-nmg

“No More Goodbyes” follows close on the heels of August's “Hello Operator”, a track whose rapturous reception on indie radio worldwide amply demonstrated that our LIBRARIANS – singers/guitarists RAY CARMEN and MIKE CROOKER, now operating as a two-man band with a bigger, brighter sound than ever – had not missed a step on the journey from their 2020 debut Long Overdue to the 2022 breakthrough Handclaps & Tambourines to their forthcoming third record. And it continues the deepening of their sonic and lyrical ambitions while retaining the jangling, hook-based sound for which they've become renowned. Always a band to wear their hearts on their sleeves, Librarians With Hickeys turn outward to offer a message of hope and solace on the new single, with genuinely moving results.

“No More Goodbyes” is vocalist Carmen's response to a friend of his who came out last year, and unfortunately got some push back from some of his friends. “I wanted to write something as a show of support, but without being preachy. Because, let’s face it, no matter how much someone may agree with your point of view, no one likes to be preached at, especially me”, Carmen says. “I wanted the lyrics to be sort of non-specific so that anyone going through any kind of a change hopefully might be able to relate.”

“Also, although you probably wouldn’t hear it, Elvis Costello is a major songwriting influence for me. A few years ago, I had written the vaguely Costello-ish line I’ll help you put them out of your misery and had been trying to use it in a song ever since! This song was the perfect opportunity. We are not a political band”, Carmen concludes, “but sometimes you kind of need to say something”.

Musically driving, the song highlights the Strat/Rickenbacker interplay the band is known for, not to mention the call-and-response at the song’s fade, with Carmen’s overlaying vocals punctuated by Crooker’s emphatic No more! No more! Evoking the classic Michael Stipe-Mike Mills REM vocal interplay. There's much more to be discovered as the new album, slyly entitled HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS BY TELEPHONE, nears announcement. It may just be the feel-good album of the year!

Big Stir Records proudly announces the return of Akron, Ohio's power pop/jangle rock/postpunk heroes LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS, with the first single to herald a brand new album due in 2024. “Hello Operator” will hit all digital platforms accompanied by an all-new video on August 23, and it's up for pre-order and pre-save now.

On the strength of their two acclaimed albums with Big Stir Records – their 2020 debut Long Overdue and the 2022 breakthrough Handclaps & Tambourines – LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS can lay claim to being one of the brightest lights on the label's roster (and the global guitar pop scene at large). The new single readily demonstrates why. The sound of a rotary phone kicks off the tune, followed by the twin jangly melodic guitar attack of LWH's core duo RAY CARMEN and MIKE CROOKER and an irresistible introductory “Hello! Hello! Hello!” paired with one of the most instantly memorable hooks in the band's considerably catchy catalog. And for all its radio-friendly accessibility, the track also introduces the key themes underlying the band's sophisticated new material. Mike Crooker explains:

“It's a tribute to Ray’s early 1960s small town childhood. While his siblings were at school, his father at work, and his mother outside talking to the neighbors, four-year-old Ray – in his inquisitive but admittedly not nearly as smart Young Sheldon phase – would pick up the phone and talk to the operator. Ray did this daily for quite some time. When the operator didn’t hear from him for a few days, she called the house to see if everything was OK. That’s when Ray’s mom found out he had been talking to the operator every day. Of course! Ha! It’s the makings of a sitcom (producers take note!)”

“While the song is set in the early 1960s, the lyrics reflect the current chaotic state of the world, and the loneliness of modern existence,” adds Carmen. “Everybody’s talking, but nobody’s saying anything, to quote both Nilsson and David Byrne. Don’t you wish the whole world – to add Julian Cope to the mix -- would shut its mouth?”

Is it power pop? It certainly is! In an alternate universe, this would have been a huge hit for The Monkees. In this universe, it means that LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS are back, baby. And there's much more to come before the year is out.

Can you hear us now? Good.