After spending the last few months delighting us with an array of new offerings, Half Waif has now announced her plans for a new studio album, arriving in the coming months.
The new full-length 'Mythopoetics' will feature the previously shared tracks 'Orange Blossoms', 'Party's Over' and 'Take Away The Ache', is being previewed by the new lead single 'Swimmer', and is set to be released on the 9th July via Anti-Records.
Speaking about the new offering, she said, "I wrote Swimmer after visiting my aunt, who has Alzheimer’s. I’ll never forget the summer we were swimming at the lake where our family has a cabin - her mind was already slipping, but her body was still strong enough to swim across to the other side. It was incredible, how both things could be true. Now the only way I can reach her is through music. I sing for her with my hand on her shoulder, feeling the soft weight of her body through the blanket, pouring all of the love I have from my voice into that warm arm. I try to reconcile what is still here with what has already gone."
While adding about the Kenna Hynes-directed video, "The idea for the music video came to me while I was recording 'Swimmer': a motorcycle chase, a quest to find a magic flower, and then the final scene where the flower is laid at the feet of an old woman, who bursts into light and is set free. I’ve always loved fantasy, the way it can capture the most poignant human emotions even when wildly surreal things are happening. When I brought the idea to Kenna, it set us on a journey to create a four-part music video series that develops the story further, starting with the first single 'Orange Blossoms' - in which the elf princess is woken from a kind of catatonic state and inspired to go outside to plant a golden seed - and ending with 'Swimmer' - when the princess (now a motorcycle-riding warrior, after being spurned one too many times from one too many parties) retrieves the golden flower and returns to her castle to set her future self free. We filmed the castle scene at the property where my aunt lives, and the older version of me was played by my mom, which made it all the more meaningful. It’s a kind of personal mythology."
Check out the new video for 'Mythopoetics' in the player and see the album's full tracklisting below.
'Mythopoetics' Tracklist:
1. Fabric
2. Swimmer
3. Take Away The Ache
4. Fortress
5. The Apartment
6. Sourdough
7. Party's Over
8. Horse Racing
9. Orange Blossoms
10. Midnight Asks
11. Sodium and Cigarettes
12. Powder