We’re happy to welcome Crooked Fingers back to the Merge family with the release of Breaks in the Armor, available today on CD, LP, and digital download.

To celebrate the release, The AV Club has posted live video of Eric Bachmann and Liz Durrett playing “Bad Blood” and “Your Apocalypse” on the top of the Chicago Tribune building.

SPIN writes:

Crooked Fingers has been Eric Bachmann’s primary band for the past decade, but before that, he fronted Archers of Loaf, the seminal college rock act that sprung from Chapel Hill, North Carolina’s vaunted ’90s indie rock scene. And while Bachmann made news this year by reuniting Archers in January, then taking them out on the road at festivals like Sasquatch, he was holding an ace the whole time: Breaks in the Armor, a new, superb Crooked Fingers album.

Bachmann, who writes, records, and performs songs mainly under the name Crooked Fingers, lives in Athens, Georgia, these days, where he recorded at The Bakery with Matt Yelton (live sound engineer for the Pixies) throughout the winter of 2010/2011, enlisting the help of Liz Durrett on backing vocals. It’s a cohesive and diverse set of songs with less adorned and more direct and affecting arrangements. Beautifully understated, artfully phrased, and ultimately a paean to perseverance, the album seems to suggest that the breaks in the armor are more important than the armor itself.

Over the course of the coming year, Bachmann will alternate between touring as Crooked Fingers and with Archers of Loaf, making the most of two distinct and rewarding modes of expression and performance. All of which seems to be exactly where he should be again.

Order your copy of Crooked Fingers’ Breaks in the Armor on CD, LP, and digital download in the Merge store today.

Crooked Fingers on tour:
Oct 15 Carrboro NC – Cat’s Cradle – OCSC 10-Year Anniversary
Oct 27 Asheville NC – Grey Eagle
Oct 28 Knoxville TN – Pilot Light
Oct 29 Charlotte NC – The Evening Muse
Oct 30 Richmond VA – The Camel
Nov 01 Washington DC – IOTA
Nov 02 Philadelphia PA – Johnny Brenda’s
Nov 03 Hoboken NJ – Maxwells
Nov 04 New York NY – Mercury Lounge
Nov 05 Brooklyn NY – Cameo Gallery
Nov 06 Boston MA – TT the Bear’s
Nov 07 Montreal QC – Casa Del Popolo
Nov 08 Toronto ON – Drake
Nov 09 Detroit MI – Magic Stick
Nov 10 Cincinnati OH – MOTR Pub
Nov 11 Chicago IL – Schubas
Nov 12 Milwaukee WI – Cactus Club
Nov 13 Minneapolis MN – Triple Rock Social Club
Nov 14 Omaha NE – Waiting Room
Nov 15 Denver CO – Larimer Lounge
Nov 19 Portland OR – Mississippi studios
Nov 20 Seattle WA – The Crocodile
Nov 22 Santa Cruz CA – The Crepe Place
Nov 23 San Francisco CA – Bottom of the Hill
Nov 25 Los Angeles CA – The Echo
Nov 26 San Diego CA – Casbah
Nov 28 Tempe AZ – Club Red
Dec 01 Austin TX – Mohawk
Dec 02 Houston TX – Fitzgerald’s Downstairs
Dec 03 New Orleans LA – One Eyed Jacks
Dec 04 Atlanta GA – The Earl