The highly-anticipated seventh album by U.S. Girls, the protean musical enterprise of multi-disciplinary artist Meg Remy, will be released on 6 March entitled Heavy Light. While Remy has been widely acclaimed for a panoply of closely observed character studies, on Heavy Light she turns inward, recounting personal narratives to create a deeply introspective about-face.
The songs are an inquest into the melancholy flavour of hindsight, both personal and cultural. Remy makes this notion formally explicit with the inclusion of three re-worked, previously released songs: ‘Statehouse (It’s A Man’s World)’, ‘Red Ford Radio’, and ‘Overtime’, the latter of which is released today as Heavy Light’s lead single. Its companion video, which stars Andrea Nann of the Dreamwalker Dance Company, was created by Remy.
Check out the video for ‘Overtime’ – BELOW:
Heavy Light follows 2018’s internationally critically-acclaimed breakout album In A Poem Unlimited. Recently named one of the best albums of the decade by Pitchfork, it was lauded across the pond by the likes of The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Crack and Q magazine for being Remy’s most accessible record in her then decade-long career.
Heavy Light is produced by Remy and was recorded live with 20 session musicians – including E Street Band saxophonist Jake Clemons – in Montreal’s acclaimed Hotel 2 Tango studio. Remy worked with co-writers Basia Bulat and Rich Morel to develop the core of Heavy Light, a set of songs conceived as a balance between orchestral percussion (as richly arranged by percussionist Ed Squires) and the human voice (conducted by Kritty Uranowski). The resulting album finds Remy casting herself as lead voice among a harmonious multitude, the singers of which lend not only their voices but also share reflections on childhood experiences that are collaged into moving spoken-word interludes throughout the album. The album is mixed by long-time collaborators Maximilian ‘Twig’ Turnbull, Steve Chahley and Tony Price.
Over 14 months of touring Poem, U.S. Girls was presented live as an 8-piece band who incinerated stages with an anachronistic blend of politicized disco-pop and aggressive, theatrical improvisation. Today, U.S. Girls announces a 27-date North American Spring tour kicking off in Detroit in April and a headline London show at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Ahead of the album’s release, the group will perform special underplays in New York City, Toronto and Montreal. Full list of tour dates below, with more to be announced.
U.S. GIRLS – HEAVY LIGHT
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1. 4 American Dollars
2. Overtime
3. IOU
4. Advice To Teenage Self
5. State House (It’s A Man’s World)
6. Born To Lose
7. And Yet It Moves / Y Se Mueve
8. The Most Hurtful Thing
9. Denise, Don’t Wait
10. Woodstock ’99
11. The Color Of Your Childhood Bedroom
12. Quiver To The Bomb
13. Red Ford Radio
U.S. GIRLS TOUR DATES
15 February – TORONTO, ON, Paradise Theatre **SOLD OUT**
16 February – MONTREAL, QC, Le Ministère
18 February – NEW YORK, NY, The Dance
4 April – DETROIT, MI, MOCAD
5 April – CHICAGO, IL, Lincoln Hall
6 April – MADISON, WI, Majestic Theatre
7 April – MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Cedar Cultural Center
9 April – OMAHA, NE, Slowdown front room
10 April – KANSAS CITY, MO, Record Bar
12 April – DENVER, CO, Bluebird Theatre
13 April – SALT LAKE CITY, UT, Metro Music Hall
14 April – BOISE, ID, The Olympic
16 April – VANCOUVER, BC, Imperial
17 April – SEATTLE, WA, Crocodile
18 April – PORTLAND, OR, Mississippi Studios
20 April – SAN FRANCISCO, CA, The Independent
21 April – SAN JOSE, CA, The Ritz
22 April – LOS ANGELES, CA, Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever
24 April – PHOENIX, AZ, Valley Bar
25 April – TUCSON, AZ, 191 Toole
27 April – AUSTIN, TX, Antone’s
28 April – DALLAS, TX, Club Dada
29 April – HOUSTON, TX, Continental Club
1 May – MEMPHIS, TX, The Greenroom at Crosstown Arts
2 May – NASHVILLE, TN, Exit/In
3 May – ASHEVILLE, NC, Grey Eagle
5 May – WASHINGTON, DC, U Street
6 May – BROOKLYN, NY, Music Hall of Williamsburg
7 May – BOSTON, MA, Sinclair
8 May – PHILADELPHIA, PA, World Café Live
14 October – LONDON, GB, Queen Elizabeth Hall
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