Johanna Samuels is back. The LA singer-songwriter returned with “White Limousine” featuring Courtney Marie Andrews in March, followed by “Two People, The Moon” last month. Now she’s announcing a new album titled Sorry, Kid to follow 2023’s Bystander. The third single, “Circles” with Tyler Ballgame, is here today.
“This is another song off the record that I wrote when I was 20 and living in New York City,” Samuels says, expounding:
I was deep in a round of my evergreen study of Elliott Smith’s music and had been obsessed with the infinity symbol and the Schoolhouse Rock number Figure 8. Being the stoner that I was at that time I found it all to be quite profound. I was reflecting heavily about how we can all feel so much and numb out at the same time, how we can make beautiful music and gather in community and also have war and violence. I hoped (and still do) that there is an underlying kindness and a goodness at the bottom of it all; that love and honesty win in the end.
Playing it again after all these years I hear that the song is about the idea that we are all tiny little universes of self experience and that we can only take in so much truth at a time… it sometimes feels like experientially our “Eureka!” moments are much like the axis of a figure 8. “A circle that turns ’round upon itself.” It repeats again and again so we can learn and grow. It just takes time and as much open heartedness as we can muster.
Sorry, Kid was recorded to tape with producer Jonathan Rado of Foxygen, plus additional production from Patrick Damphier. Along with Courtney Marie Andrews and Tyler Ballgame, other guests include Madison Cunningham, Erin Rae, and Jordan Lehning. There’s also notably a Weezer-themed track titled “Blue Vs. Pinkerton” (Blue, btw). “Circles” is accompanied by a colorful music video directed by Sydney Morin. Watch below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “White Limousine” (Feat. Courtney Marie Andrews)
02 “Rare (The Runner Song)” (Feat. Madison Cunningham)
03 “Circles” (Feat. Tyler Ballgame)
04 “Blue Vs. Pinkerton”
05 “Two People, The Moon”
06 “Full Story” (Feat. Jordan Lehning)
07 “Bats” (Feat. Erin Rae)
08 “The Kind One”
09 “Grade 11 (Sorry Kid)” (Feat. Erin Rae)
10 “Do What I Can”
11 “Indelible Within Her”
TOUR DATES:
08/15 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon
08/25 – New York, NY @ Union Pool
Sorry, Kid is out 8/14 via Odd Man Out Recordings / Jealous Butcher. 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 ’
