with interviews from Ben Harper, Brett Dennen and Meiko. (Directed by Peter Harding)

Hi, my peops, I have been rather busy focusing on the official release of this album, scheduled for August 16th and I am getting ready to play some festivals and assorted gigs in Switzerland, France and Italy. I wanted you to see this EPK, kind of a video story behind “The Edge Of Venice.” I had some really great musicians/friends lend their kind words and we had a lot of fun filming the interviews and playing songs in our backyards, beaches and alleys. I am truly blessed to be doing what I am doing with such a collection of troops.

Hugs and Cheers,
Tom

Below is the official Press Release that’s goin’ round:

Singer song-writer Tom Freund is pleased to announce the release of his newest album, The Edge of Venice, on August 16 via Surf Road Records. The album is produced by John Alagia (John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Dave Matthews) and features of some of LA’s finest musicians joining Tom in these 9 new songs. “The Edge Of Venice” comes in the wake of his latest EP “Fit To Screen” whose songs have been featured in this seasons “Parenthood” on NBC; and his latest full length “Collapsible Plans” which was produced by his musical cohort Ben Harper and hosted Jackson Browne as a special guest. The song “Collaspible Plans (Sugar) was seen performed live on “Last Call With Carson Daly” in January of 09.
 
Freund will also be touring in the coming months in support of The Edge of Venice. He will be playing in the US September through October, with tours of Europe and Japan in November. Details on tour dates are to be determined. Freund will also be playing European dates with Ben Harper including the Blue Balls Festival in Switzerland on July 28 and Monte Carlo on August 1st.
 
”I feel that (The Edge) is my most direct album to date,” says Freund. “Direct to the listeners in a sonic sense and transparent to what is going on in my life right now.” The songs cover such topics as endless touring (Lakeshore Drive) and cell phones, or lack thereof (Show Me The Love), relationships (Everything, Lonesome) and even his recent step into parenthood (Daddy’s Song). The nod to Venice comes mostly in the breezy “Wounded Surfer Boy” – about whom Freund shares, “I have seen more than a few in the neighborhood – and the girls that trail after them.” The subtle beauty of “Sweetly Calling My Name” evokes an even further westerly feel with references to Hawaii and a slack key tuning on his guitar with hauntingly beautiful vocal help from LA singer-songwriter friend Meiko. “Firetrucks” is what Freund called the “centerpiece of the record” – written on a moody rainy night in San Francisco when his buddy Brett Dennen gently advised him to “stay in and write!” Freund admits he hasn’t a clue where the album opener “Cruel Cruel World” came from.
 
Freund spent the mid-’90s touring with the indie rock cult faves The Silos and has been releasing solo albums since 1998. The  New York Times once noted on Tom,  “Every year the mounting landfill of new releases that threatens to bury the working music journalists yields a few unexpected gems, and Tom Freund is one of them.”