In just a few weeks, Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis will release her first solo music as Sad13 since 2020’s Haunted Painting, and it’s got some exciting specs. The new mixtape 1331 comprises 13 “1 minute long-ish songs,” so I guess it’s her very own Whack World? Dupuis made it entirely solo and DIY, serving as the lone performer and recording engineer for the first time in 15 years. The first three tracks are out now.
Dupuis tends to use Sad13 to explore electro-pop sounds, and these early tunes fit that mold. They’re called “I Am Now Completely Invisible,” “Art Institute,” and “Watermelon Manicure,” and based on those titles, maybe the proper short-song reference to make here is Guided By Voices. I’m hearing some hyperpop elements on “Watermelon Manicure,” which gets a Dupuis-directed music video, while “Art Institute” is like bubblegum Colleen Green with a real gnarly undercurrent. The miniature epic “I Am Now Completely Invisible” might be the best of the bunch, but all three are extremely cool.
In a new Billboard interview, Dupuis says 1331 was inspired by “Philly malarkey.” She was already upset with mayor Cherelle Parker for a number of reasons while writing the material. Then, between writing and recording, she shattered her elbow when a motorist drove into the bike line and sent her flying, which magnified her critiques of Parker’s transportation policies and led to the new song “People’s Loser.”
“It’s shocking I wasn’t killed,” Dupuis says. “I went over the handlebars, I hit my head, I was cut all over my body. A week later, a young doctor was killed on the same street by a car doing the same thing: driving into the bike lane.”
Speaking of doctors, she says some of them wondered whether she’d ever play guitar again after her injury. But she believes mentioning she was recently included on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 250 greatest guitarists of all time helped her get the best treatment. “I’ve never dropped something like that,” Dupuis told Billboard, “but I found it very helpful in navigating the orthopedic-industrial complex. I wound up suddenly with the premier orthopedic surgeon at the hospital. I go to the Sixers’ PT person and I go to the Eagles’ PRP [platelet-rich plasma injection] person. They take insurance. [The doctors] pass my name along because they’re like, ‘Guitar player!'”
She also says the production was influenced by seeing Rebecca Black and the Hard Quartet in the same week, which is fun. Hear the three new tracks below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “I Am Now Completely Invisible”
02 “Art Institute”
03 “Watermelon Manicure”
04 “Six Ways”
05 “Pretty Little Lifers”
06 “People’s Loser”
07 “Locust Releaser”
08 “Friend Of The P”
09 “Sorry For Your Entertainment”
10 “Kissing”
11 “Mean, Vindictive, Arrogant”
12 “Hopeful But Not Optimistic”
13 “Third Rodeo”
1331 is out 7/10 on Exploding In Sound. Pre-order it here.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source stereogum.com ’
