Diane Coffee Headlines Aggie Theatre on June 29

Diane Coffee will be headlining the Aggie Theatre on June 29 in support of their album ‘With People,’ which is out now via Polyvinyl (released April 29). Shaun Fleming’s fourth album is their most intimate and personal to date, a collection of diaristic ruminations and contemplative observations of the people in their life, yet also feels universal in impact. Combining the breezy wistfulness of classic folk-rock with orchestral pop’s broad sweep, With People marks an exciting new era for Diane Coffee, chronicling an artist’s revisitation of their upbringing as they look at the horizon for what’s ahead. Album singles include “Forecast (feat. Deep Sea Diver)” and “The Great Escape.” The record has received acclaim and support from FLOOD Magazine, All Music, New Noise, BUST, and more.

The follow-up to 2019’s exquisite Internet Arms, With People came about in the early stages of the pandemic as Fleming’s songwriting took an unexpectedly personal turn. They began zooming in on not only their own emotions and experiences, but the people that have impacted their life—whether over an extended period, or through smaller, short-term interactions—many of the songs centering on a specific moment or memory from their own history. “It was a way for me to see all these people I couldn’t see, and to be with them in a time where that was impossible, in the form of song,” Fleming explains. The transportive nature of this creative process grew to encompass their upbringing in the suburbs of Agoura Hills, California, to which Fleming returned before recording as a way to recapture the feelings of their past.

Once the songs started taking definite shapes, Fleming hit the studio with former Foxygen bandmate and production wizard Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, The Killers).

“I left the demos a lot more sparse and open to interpretation than on past records. I really wanted to leave as much room for Rado to produce as possible,” they explain. The two fleshed out what would become With People in a series of sessions that were quick and artistically productive, bringing new nuances out of these ten songs as they worked together. “We wanted it to feel organic, and in the moment, and to mirror the album’s lyrical honesty. It kept revealing things about me personally,” Fleming recalls about the creative process, “and the pacing of the sessions kept things fun, fresh, and open.”

The result is an album that sounds warm, nostalgic, and lived-in, like an old friend sharing closely held stories while sitting on a moonlit porch. “This is the first time I’ve done something so personal, I wanted to pull back the veil and share myself through these stories. These are a lot of the moments that shaped me,” Fleming explains while discussing the album’s overall arc. “That said, the stories are thematically universal as well.”

Follow Diane Coffee at Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Stream ‘With People’ at diane-coffee.ffm.to/with-people.