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Jun 01, 2023 By Mark Redfern Photography by Shervin Lainez

Speedy Ortiz have announced a new album, Rabbit Rabbit, which is their first new album in five years, and shared its first single, “You S02,” via a music video. Rabbit Rabbit is due out September 1 via Wax Nine. Elle Schneider directed the “You S02” video. Watch it below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover artwork, as well as the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Rabbit Rabbit sees Sadie Dupuis (songwriter, vox, guitar) and Andy Molholt (guitar) be joined by longtime touring members Audrey Zee Whitesides (bass) and Joey Doubek (drums). The album was recorded at Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree, CA and Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, TX. Illuminati Hotties’ Sarah Tudzin co-produced the album with the band and also mixed it. Emily Lazar and Chris Allgood mastered the album at The Lodge in New York, NY.

Dupuis had this to say about the new single in a press release: “Mostly when I’ve met my musical heroes, they’re kind and principled people. But occasionally someone whose work I love(d) reveals themselves to be anti-union, or anti-’woke,’ or some other gear-grinding ugliness. That’s who I wrote ‘You S02’ about, the song’s frenzied guitar and synth solos mirroring the crazymaking intensity wafting off people who act like that. In the TV show You’s second season, the main character moves from New York to LA in hopes of a fresh start, but (spoiler) remains a murdering psychopath. Changing cities won’t make you a hero if you still treat others badly.”

The song’s video was inspired by John Carpenter’s sci-fi classic They Live and was filmed in Joshua Tree at night. Dupuis says: “It was freezing out—Southern California was experiencing unseasonal snow—but the low temps fit the bill for a video about how revenge is best served cold (in a non-heated swimming pool).”

The press release describes the album and the inspiration behind its title in more detail: “Rabbit Rabbit is a nod to the superstitious incantation repeated on the first of each month to bring good fortune. Dupuis adopted this practice as a child coping with OCD and early trauma, so when she began to parse difficult memories for the first time in her songwriting, it felt like kismet to name her band’s fourth record after that expression of luck and repetition. But instead of re-treading old routines, the album finds Speedy Ortiz interrogating conventions, grappling with cycles of violence and destructive power dynamics with singular wit and riffs. The result is Speedy Ortiz at its most potent: melodically fierce, sonically mountainous, scorching the earth and beginning anew.”

“As I was channeling scenes and sentiments from decades past, I wanted to honor the bands I loved when I first learned guitar, ones that taught me to get lost in the possibilities of this instrument,” Dupuis adds.

Regarding the themes on Rabbit Rabbit, Dupuis says: “I turned 33 while writing this album, a palindrome birthday and a lucky number associated with knowledge, I wanted to mark how I was making better choices as I got older, letting go of heedless anger even when it’s warranted.”

Speedy Ortiz’ last album, Twerp Verse, came out in 2018 via Carpark. Dupuis’ last solo album under her Sad13 project, Haunted Painting, was released in 2020 via Wax Nine.

Rabbit Rabbit Tracklist:

1. Kim Cattrall
2. You S02
3. Scabs
4. Plus One
5. Cry Cry Cry
6. Ballad of Y&S
7. Kitty
8. Who’s Afraid of the Bath
9. Ranch vs. Ranch
10. Emergency & Me
11. The Sunday
12. Brace Thee
13. Ghostwriter

Speedy Ortiz Tour Dates:

July 28 - Chicago, IL @ Wicker Park Fest
July 29 - Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen (w/ The Good Life)
Sep 5 - Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
Sep 6 - Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s
Sep 7 - Hamden, CT @ The Space
Sep 8 - Somerville, MA @ ONCE at the Center For Arts at The Armory
Oct 18 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Nov 2 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
Nov 6 - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
Nov 8 - Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
Nov 16 - Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
Nov 17 - Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
Nov 18 - Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
Dec 16 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom

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