The Ocean Blue announces new LP, expands U.S. tour — hear opener ‘Kings and Queens’

Indie-pop favorites The Ocean Blue will release their first new album in six years next month, an 11-song collection titled Kings and Queens/Knaves and Thieves that is preceded by the first single/opening track “Kings and Queens” — which you can hear below.

The new album is due out June 21 on Korda Records, and is the follow-up to 2013’s Ultramarine. The band last year released “Therein Lies The Problem With My Life,” which appears on the new album.

The Ocean Blue will be on tour throughout the rest of the year, with U.S. dates booked between June and December, largely in pairs, including two in Peru. Ticket information is available at the band’s website.

The Ocean Blue released four major-label records between 1989 and 1996, with the band’s self-titled debut spawning the modern-rock radio hit “Between Something and Nothing.” The group released Davy Jones’ Locker on an independent label in 1999, and followed that in 2004 with the Waterworks EP — later expanded into a full album — and the comeback Ultramarine in 2013.

Below, see the video for the new song, check out the album tracklist and tour dates.

The Ocean Blue, Kings and Queens/Knaves and Thieves

1. “Kings and Queens”
2. “It Takes so Long”
3. “Love Doesn’t Make It Easy on Us”
4. “All the Way Blue”
5. “Paraguay My Love”
6. “F Major 7”
7. “The Limit”
8. “Therein Lies the Problem with My Life”
9. “9 p.m. Direction”
10. “Step into the Night”
11. “Frozen”

The Ocean Blue tour dates

UNITED STATES
June 22: Tellus 360, Lancaster, PA
June 23: Rough Trade, Brooklyn, NY
June 27: The Crocodile, Seattle, WA
June 28: Holoscene, Portland, OR
July 26: Fine Line, Minneapolis, MN
July 27: Valley Bar, Phoenix, AZ
Aug. 23: Underground Arts, Philadelphia ,PA
Aug. 24: NorVa, Norfolk, VA
Oct. 4: Union Stage, Washington, D.C.
Oct. 5: Jammin Java, Vienna, VA
Nov. 1: The Magic Bag, Detroit, MI
Nov. 3: Lincoln Hall, Chicago, IL
No. 17: Echoplex, Los Angeles, CA
Dec. 6: Metro Music Hall, Salt Lake City, UT

SOUTH AMERICA
Sept. 5: Coco’s Club, Lima, Peru
Sept. 6: El QuinQué, Arequipa, Peru

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS

• Video: The Ocean Blue’s David Schelzel covers Billy Idol in 3-song live set at KEXP
• Video: The Ocean Blue, ‘Sad Night, Where is Morning?’ — off ‘Ultramarine’
• The Ocean Blue streams new album ‘Ultramarine,’ announces initial U.S. tour dates
• The Ocean Blue to release ‘Ultramarine’ in March, play shows ‘throughout the U.S.’
• Ocean Blue rarity ‘City Traffic’ surfaces as band works on first new album in a decade