Jenny Lewis has finally announced that a new album is on the way with the release of her latest single “Psycho,” the third to tease the arrival of what will be her fifth record Joy’All on Jun. 9. With that announcement she’s also shared new tour dates which include a stop at the KIA Forum in Los Angeles on Aug. 7. Lewis will also be playing three nights at the Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 13, 15, and 17 with The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie.
“Psycho” sees Lewis continuing to toy with her ebullient mix of genres into soothingly sleek and emotional anthems. Ever since The Voyager she’s given her imbued country-leaning rock with a pop-hook-filled exuberance that lends itself to her rapt and wild-eyed penchant for storytelling; while its follow-up On the Line only enriched those soundscapes with piano-driven and soulful tangents.
It’s no wonder that Lewis found providence in discovering an outfit once owned and worn by Nashville country-pop icon Skeeter Davis or that she’s wearing the same outfit on the Joy’All album cover (which itself recalls a bygone era of music). Her latest single wraps all those sonic influences together in sublime fashion, hitched as it is to the dreamy echo of both acoustic and electric guitars as well as the layered glow of vocals that cut rivetingly throughout.
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“Life goes in cycles / It’s a merry go round,” Lewis coos against the track’s meandering opening. Reflecting on where she is by constantly looking back at where she was, the song radiates with the kind of tongue-in-cheek but honest introspections that abound in her music. “I’m not a psycho / I’m just trying to get laid,” she sings later. “I’m a rock ‘n’ roll disciple / In a video game.” The sardonic wit balances perfectly with her melodic switch-ups as well, which sees her stripping away both treble and bass before swelling into a gauzily anthemic finale.
Lewis said of the album: “I started writing some of these songs on the road, pre-pandemic…and then put them aside as the world shut down, and then from my home in Nashville in early 2021, I joined a week-long virtual songwriting workshop with a handful of amazing artists, hosted by Beck. The challenge was to write one song every day for seven days, with guidelines from Beck. The guidelines would be prompts like ‘write a song with 1-4-5 chord progression,’ ‘write a song with only cliches,’ or ‘write in free form style.’ The first song I submitted to the group was ‘Puppy and a Truck.'”
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Joy’All is out on Jun. 9 pre-order it here.
See Jenny Lewis at the KIA Forum in Los Angeles on Aug. 7 and for three nights at the Hollywood Bowl with The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie on Oct. 13, 15, and 17!
Visit Jenny Lewis on their website, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Jenny Lewis tour
06/02/23 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater ^
06/03/23 – Lexington, KY – Railbird Festival
06/17/23 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo
07/06/23 – Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest
07/07/23 – Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed &
07/08/23 – Duluth, MN – Bayfront Festival Park #
07/12/23 – Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre &
07/13/23 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues &
07/15/23 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner @
07/16/23 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall @
07/18/23 – New York, NY – The Rooftop at Pier 17 @
07/20/23 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia @
07/22/23 – Washington, DC – The Anthem @
08/01/23 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
08/03/23 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater *
08/05/23 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion *
08/07/23 – Los Angeles, CA – Kia Forum *
^ with Ruston Kelly
# with Trampled By Turtles
* with Beck, Phoenix
@ with Cass McCombs, Hayden Pedigo
& with Jenny O., Hayden Pedigo
Words: Steven Ward
Listen to “Psychos” the new single from Jenny Lewis below!
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