There was something sinister about Crooked Fingers, both the name of the project and the music that Eric Bachmann wrote at the helm of its ever-shifting lineups over 15 years. He retired the moniker a couple of years ago, but with his third album under his own name, the transformation feels gorgeous and final and irreversible: No Recover. While not officially out until Friday, Bitter Southerner is allowing you to test-drive Bachmann’s forthcoming record starting today, saying “Too damned many musicians have hard times growing up at all. Which is why we have to treasure the ones who mature and bring their music with them.”

Share the preview of No Recover by Eric Bachmann on Bitter Southerner now

The sunset on the album’s cover might be the end of a cruel world for the duo in “Jaded Lover, Shady Drifter,” who introduce No Recover; they feel like flip-side lovers, both sonically and lyrically, of the couple at the center of Bring On the Snakes’ “The Rotting Strip.” But that dark sentiment is quickly reversed with “Daylight,” one of Bachmann’s most stunning vocal performances ever: For a guy who earned his stripes by shredding his vocal cords in the ’90s, he sure can croon. And though the words cast some shadows—“fight for your life,” he implores—ultimately there is hope. “If you try, you can be loved.”

Same goes, to a less direct degree, for “Waylaid,” the record’s jauntiest song, and a meditation on failure and love that leaves room for (Bachmann’s old pal from Archers of Loaf) Eric Johnson’s bright-but-mournful electric guitar to take center stage. But leave it to Bachmann to save the best for last: No Recover ends with one song for his wife and another for his son. “Wild Azalea,” for Liz Durrett—who also makes a brief appearance earlier in the album—is pure ’70s AM gold, including the tinge of sadness that the best of that era embraced. And “Dead and Gone” offers wistful, Bachmann-style comfort to a child. It’s vulnerable and giving, a lifetime promise that somehow intertwines regret and hopefulness.

Bachmann hits the road this month with Jo Jameson on upright bass, Jeremy Wheatley on percussion, and Mckendrick Bearden on guitar, beginning with shows in both Carolinas this weekend. A full list of shows can be found below. Pre-order No Recover today on CD, LP, and limited-edition black-and-blue swirl Peak Vinyl in the Merge store with an option to bundle it with an exclusive “fingerprint sunset” t-shirt. You can also pre-order the album from select independent record stores and through your preferred digital music service.

Eric Bachmann on tour:
Sep 07 Greenville, SC – Horizon Records (6pm, free)
Sep 08 Raleigh, NC – Hopscotch Music Festival @ Raleigh Times (1:30pm)
Sep 08 Raleigh, NC – Hopscotch Music Festival @ Kings (3:15pm, free)
Sep 27 Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic
Sep 28 Charlotte, NC – Living Room Show
Sep 29 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle Back Room
Sep 30 Richmond, VA – Living Room Show
Oct 01 Wilmington, NC – Reggie’s 42nd Street Tavern
Oct 03 Baltimore, MD – Living Room Show
Oct 04 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
Oct 05 Cambridge, MA – Lizard Lounge
Oct 06 Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade NYC
Oct 07 Hartford, CT – Living Room Show
Oct 08 Hamilton, ON – Casbah
Oct 09 Cleveland, OH – Living Room Show
Oct 10 London, ON – Living Room Show
Oct 11 Toronto, ON – The Drake
Oct 12 Detroit, MI – Living Room Show
Oct 13 Chicago, IL – Hideout