A couple of weeks ago, Amanda Palmer announced her new album There Will Be No Intermission by sharing the lead single “Drowning In the Sound.” The urgent piano-based track tackles everything from climate change to fake news to the #MeToo movement. Produced by John Congleton, Palmer explained the background of the song like this on her website: “this song was written as a two-day songwriting exercise on august 29th and 30th, 2017, using input/inspiration/comments from over 600 patrons (you can read those here). it wound up being a response to the insanity of internet politics melded with the recent total eclipse and the devastation of hurricane harvey….and, y’know…other stuff.”
There Will Be No Intermission is out March 8, 2019 (International Women’s Day) and is Palmer’s first solo album of new material since 2012’s Theatre Is Evil. In a statement about the album, Palmer said: “I’ve never been nervous about releasing a record before, but this one is different. The rise of global fascism alongside the spreading fire of #MeToo has forged a louder megaphone for all women, and we’re all seeing that radical truth is infectious. I feel more urgency than ever to share the naked truth of my experiences. The kind of stories that I’m sharing on this record – abortion, miscarriage, cancer, grief, the darker sides of parenthood – have been therapeutic and frightening to write. But every time I play them for my friends and fans, the nodding heads of empathy have lit a fire under my ass to record and release them.”
Palmer will be touring behind the new album in 2019, with a stop in Seattle on Friday, June 7 at the Paramount Theatre.
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