Mates of State unveil 'Crushes' on road

Indie-pop duo Mates of State will hit the road this summer for a headlining tour in support of the pair's forthcoming covers album, "Crushes (The Covers Mixtape)."

The husband-and-wife pair of vocalist/keyboardist Kori Gardner and multi-instrumentalist Jason Hammel kick off the carnival-themed "Summer Crushes Tour" June 15 in Northampton, MA, the first of 25 cities the duo will visit on the month-long excursion, which wraps July 16 in New York City.

Dates for the trek, described in a press release as a "virtual traveling variety show featuring live magic, sword swallowers, contortionists, human blockheads and more," are included at right.

"Crushes," due this summer on the Barsuk label, was recorded and produced by Gardner and Hammel, along with longtime collaborator Peter Katis (The National, Interpol). The 10-track set features covers of songs by Fleetwood Mac, Tom Waits and Nick Cave, among others.

"We've been talking about doing a covers record for a long time," the duo said of the forthcoming album in a post on the band's website. "We'd hear a great song at 2 a.m. while driving the straight line from one part of Texas to the next, and all we'd want to do is play that song as if we had written it."

"Re-Arrange Us," Mates of State's fifth studio album, surfaced in 2008. The set was recorded in three different cities with a trio of producers, including Katis, Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla and Spoon drummer Jim Eno.