Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye) [Canary Yellow 2 LP]

You remember where you were when you first heard ROLE MODEL’s Kansas Anymore. It was one of those records. The kind that sticks to your ribs, a dense, melancholic ache you didn’t know you needed. Tucker Pillsbury laid it all out—the gnawing homesickness, the specific, hollowed-out feeling of a love that’s packed its bags. It was a stark, beautiful document. But it wasn’t the whole story.

Now, with Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye), the narrative cracks wide open again. This isn’t some contractual obligation deluxe edition with a few studio scraps tacked on. These four new songs feel like a necessary epilogue, the difficult chapters you have to live through after the credits roll. The production, helmed by Noah Conrad with the textural genius of Mason Stoops and Harrison Whitford, feels even more substantial, more… burly. The folk-tinged arrangements have a physical weight. You can feel the felt on the piano hammers, the rosin on the bow, the sheer column of air being pushed by the kick drum. It’s a sound that occupies the room with you.

And then there’s “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out.” You’ve probably heard it, a viral snippet that barely scratches the surface of its devastatingly simple power. It’s the sound of a late-night bargaining plea, a moment of weakness set to a melody so sharp and immediate it feels like you’ve known it forever. Pillsbury’s lyricism has always been his sharpest tool, and here he wields it with surgical precision, carving out moments of vulnerability that are almost uncomfortable to witness, yet impossible to turn away from.

This whole thing is presented as it should be: a heavy, two-disc object you can hold in your hands. Dropping the needle on this Canary Yellow vinyl is part of the experience. That color isn’t just a gimmick; it’s a statement. It’s the jarring morning sun after a sleepless night, the caution tape around a feeling, the last stubborn leaf of autumn. It’s a bright, almost unnerving circle of sunlight in a dim room, mirroring the glimmers of truth in the wreckage. This isn’t background music. You don’t just listen to The Longest Goodbye; you sit with it, pour it a drink, and let it tell its side of the story. It’s a heavy, beautiful, necessary piece of work.

The Nitty Gritty:

Format: 2 LP Set, Canary Yellow Color Vinyl
Label: Mad Love/Interscope
Original Release Date: 2025
Dimensions: 0.25 x 12.42 x 12.22 inches; 1.14 Pounds
ASIN: B0F3JT3B94

There’s a moment on ROLE MODEL’s “Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye)” where time just seems to stop. You know that feeling when a lyric hits you square in the chest and suddenly you are staring out a car window, watching the world blur by while you are stuck in a memory? This is what this album does consistently, and now it is available in a gorgeous canary yellow vinyl that feels as warm and inviting as the songs themselves.

Tucker Pillsbury (the man behind ROLE MODEL) has always had this uncanny ability to make vulnerability seem like the most natural state of being. On this deluxe edition of his sophomore effort, he expands the emotional landscape with four additional tracks that feel less like bonus material and more like essential chapters in an ongoing story.

I first encountered Tucker’s music at a tiny club in Portland a few years back. The room was packed with people who seemed to know every word to songs that hadn’t even been officially released yet. There was this collective intimacy this is rare at concerts – like everyone was in on the same secret. That is the magic Tucker brings to his recorded work too.

“Sally, When The Wine Runs Out” has become something of a phenomenon online, and it’s easy to see why. The track captures that specific melancholy that comes from knowing something beautiful is ending. What’s remarkable is how he avoids the trap of melodrama – there’s an authenticity to his delivery that makes even the most specific experiences feel universal.

Producer Noah Conrad deserves major credit here too. The folk-tinged production creates this wonderful tension with ROLE MODEL’s contemporary sensibilities. It’s like hearing Elliott Smith collaborate with Frank Ocean – intimate acoustic arrangements that somehow feel completely of-the-moment.

The canary yellow vinyl edition isn’t just a pretty package – there’s something about the warm analog sound that complements these songs perfectly. The slight imperfections and subtle depth that vinyl brings matches the beautifully imperfect emotions Tucker explores throughout.

If you are the type who has ever found yourself homesick for a place that might not even exist anymore, or if you’ve felt the peculiar grief that comes with outgrowing a relationship, this album will find its way into heavy rotation in your collection. It is for midnight drives and Sunday mornings alike – the rare record that works as both background and foreground in your life.

Word has it that Tucker wrote most of these songs while temporarily living in a cabin with spotty cell service, deliberately disconnecting to reconnect with what matters. That intentional isolation bleeds into every track, creating this beautiful paradox where his most personal work becomes his most relatable.

In a musical landscape that often rewards artifice, ROLE MODEL’s “Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye)” feels like a friend telling you their truths over late-night drinks. And now that conversation is preserved in stunning canary yellow vinyl that looks as good as it sounds. This is one for the permanent collection.