Nate Kinsella (Joan of Arc, American Football, LIES, Make Believe) has never sounded quite like he does on the new Birthmark record, Birth of Omni (out January 19) - totally open to every idea and emotion, unrestrained as he tries to frame the future in whatever light he can find. 

Today, he shares lead single "Rodney" alongside its compulsive and lustful music video, featuring backing vocals from Craig Wedren (Shudder To Think) and directed by Ben Wietmarschen (Funny Or Die, The Tonight Show, The Onion). Simultaneously aware that the escapades of his youth may be behind him, that he’s got other commitments in his life, Nate reckons with his sexuality, coming to grips with the acceptance that he never has (and never will) fit into the social straitjacket of masculinity he’d tried to don neatly for 40 years. 

Watch "Rodney" below and pre-order Birth of Omni on limited edition Mahogany and Cloudy Clear vinyl now.

“I developed a pretty-deep crush on a male co-worker, which was a new thing for me. And this fun little song popped into my head. I’ve always felt straight-leaning but I’ve also noticed that the context and people matter a lot in how I feel, so I’ve come to accept my sexuality as dynamic in nature” - Nate Kinsella (Birthmark)

Birth of Omni began in the dark. Five years ago, when Nate Kinsella began writing his fifth album under the name Birthmark, his world, like that of so many others, felt upside down. This was early 2018, a year into the Trump presidency and amid the ubiquitous American fever of mass shootings and racist violence. Just months earlier, the dawning revelations of the MeToo movement had jolted him, ending his naivete and giving him insight into how the women in his life often saw the men in theirs. Nearing 40, he was finally a father, too, with a newborn daughter and another on the way. Into what kind of world, he sensibly wondered, was he bringing these kids? Early songs wallowed in this anxious question, the dim start of what he thought might be a not-especially-uplifting EP.

But five years later, Birth of Omni is a kaleidoscopic wonder of sound and sentiment, asking the same question Nate first posed for himself but arriving at a surprising answer—maybe a better world, in fact, if only we can all be a little more open. Opportunities to grieve and fret overflowed, he reckoned, but he also wanted to celebrate the possibility of change, the joy of wonder, the essence of being. The result is the most dazzling and dynamic album of his storied career, with heavy beats and heavenly harps, cascading harmonies and quiet hymns, brutal noise and blissful arpeggios woven into 10 songs that capture the highs and lows, the vexations and victories of marriage, parenthood, and life itself.

The sequence of upending events that yielded those first sketches didn’t end, of course. But when the pandemic began two years into work on Birth of Omni, Nate took its suspension of reality as an invitation to forget his own rules. He warped his voice with software until he questioned if it was still his, fluttering as it did through electric fractals or stretched until it seemed to trickle with sweat. And in a series of residencies in isolated cabins and the New York City art space Pioneer Works, he dove in and out of genres like never before, fusing ASMR readings and sampled voicemails to mutated disco and cherubic pop and orchestral emoting. A panoply of guests and friends—Arone Dyer, Greg Fox, Jeff Tobias, Richmond’s Spacebomb crew, among many others—helped him reach these unexpected syntheses.

Vulnerability and self-reckoning is the point of Birth of Omni, to make yourself and hopefully your kids and maybe even the world a little better by being honest about and open with yourself. Nate wrote, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered this album alone, because these are notes to self, personal reminders of how he wants to exist moving forward. Birth of Omni began in the dark, but it exists now in the full light of an essential reality: Our roles change, as do we. There’s hope in knowing there’s still somewhere else to go.

Birthmark - ‘Birth of Omni’ Album Art

Birth of Omni Tracklist

1. Snowflake in My Palm (Not For Long)
2. Butterfly
3. Birthday (Product of Our Lust)
4. Rodney
5. Baby Woncha Come on Home
6. Boyfriend
7. Green Skies
8. Red Meadow
9. I’m Awake
10. Pretty Flowers