Big Ups recently released their new single “Hope For Someone”, the third one off their forthcoming album Before A Million Universes. Following the the video for “National Parks”, the visual interpretation of the album’s emotional and musical core, “Hope For Someone” is the band’s ode to idealism, a reoccurring theme throughout their body of work.

After their Brooklyn release show on March 5th, Big Ups will travel south to Texas for SXSW and then fly to Europe for a month long tour.

Big Ups’ second LP, Before A Million Universes, is at once a fist in the face of complacency and a sonic affirmation to, in Walt Whitman’s words, “let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.” Pretty heady subject matter.

Joe Galarraga (Vocals), Amar Lal (Guitar), Carlos Salguero Jr. (Bass), and Brendan Finn (Drums), met studying music technology at NYU. Five years later, the city’s notorious crucible of garbage, money, and humanity has had a profound and delightful impact on their art. “Tell me what you’re worth / Salary, two weeks off work?” Galarraga screams on “Capitalized,” as the bassline frantically roams our conscience like a wet-nosed dog. Galarraga’s vocals burn with the heat of a thousand day jobs.

The album’s emotional and musical core lies in “National Parks,” a song Galarraga wrote as a tribute to the sacrifices his mother made to raise him. We’re led through the anger and bewilderment-at his mom’s solitary walks through their neighborhood and the selfishness inherent to childhood-and into a coda where you can almost see the sun streaming through the trees of Galarraga’s park, drums steady and swelling, a transition in tone and mood that this band has nearly perfected. “I think I saw her say to herself / This is everything I’ve missed.”

TOUR DATES:

03/05 – Brooklyn, NY @ Shea Stadium
03/09 – Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong
03/11 – Savannah, GA @ Savannah Stopover
03/12 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
03/13 – Denton, TX @ 35 Denton
03/15-03/20 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
03/28 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast
03/29 – Manchester, UK @ Gullivers
03/30 – London, UK @ The Lexington
03/31 – Leeds, UK @ Headrow House
04/01 – Bristol, UK @ Louisiana
04/02 – Birmingham, UK @ Sunflower Lounge
04/04 – Lille, FR @ La Peniche
04/05 – Paris, FR @ Mecanique Ondulatorie
04/06 – Brussels, BE @ VK
04/08 – Groningen, NL @ Vera
04/09 – Eindhoven, NL @ Area 51 Skate Park
04/10 – Cologne, DE @ MTC
04/11 – Vienna, AT @ B72
04/12 – Bologna, IT @ Freakout Club
04/13 – Mila, IT @ Ligera
04/14 – Munich, DE @ Kranhalle
04/16 – Hamburg, DE @ Molotow
04/18 – Berlin, DE @ Cassiopeia
04/19 – Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen
04/21 – Amsterdam, NL @ OT301