Today, Blood Lemon shared their new single and video, “High Tide,” from their upcoming EP Petite Deaths, out digitally January 17, and on vinyl via hometown label Moon Ruins. “High Tide” is a vividly sensual track packing plenty of overdrive alongside guitarist Lisa Simpson’s lyrics that speak to our animalistic tendency to seduce and be seduced.
Drawing inspiration from a spectrum of contemporary romance authors after diving feet first into fan fiction for the series Outlander, Simpson says, “I took the sensual for inspiration, and the beginning of ‘High Tide’ was a research query of what idioms or phrases other cultures use for orgasm.” The accompanying video, created with a DIY ethos, utilizes found footage to provide an evocative filmic companion to the metaphorical images of sensuality within Simpson’s lyrics.
The band also announced a run of West Coast dates beginning in January with a show at Mississippi Studios in Portland, OR on the 17th. For more information, visit the band’s website, here.
Recorded at the storied Rancho De La Luna studio in Joshua Tree with esteemed producer Dave Catching (Desert Sessions, Queens of the Stone Age, earthlings?), this 5 song collection masterfully echoes the vastness of the desert it was shaped in. But beyond the desert’s influence, Petite Deaths also tells a story of the intimate journey of creation, both musical and personal: the band’s drummer/percussionist Lindsey Lloyd learned she would be expecting the birth of her first daughter, Zenith, once recording was wrapped.
While the songs on Petite Deaths are, no doubt, less overtly political than the band’s eponymous debut LP, they are no less provocative. The EP’s title is a reference to the French phrase petite mort or “small death,” used as a euphemism for the grand sensation that arrives post-orgasm (much like Tori Amos’ landmark Little Earthquakes). Bassist (and current Built to Spill member) Melanie Radford explains, “When we were deciding on the title of this 5-song EP, we realized each of these songs felt like flashes of life and death. Each of them are ‘epic’ in their own way: small bursts of either pleasure or despair, tied together by a large musical landscape.”
Blood Lemon’s debut received praise from outlets like NPR Music, A.V. Club, SPIN and beyond, garnering comparisons to other beloved female-fronted influences like Sleater-Kinney and The Breeders. Following appearances at Treefort Music Fest, as well as dates supporting avant-garage heavy hitters The Shivas and viral goth-punks Vision Video, the band began working on music with widened emotional registers. Petite Deaths is the result of that period, and a testament to how these three women continue to invent (and reinvent) themselves through a shared love of song and embracing change with resourcefulness.
Tour Dates:
Jan 17 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Jan 18 Olympia, WA @ Lamplighters
Jan 19 Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
Jan 21 Chico, CA @ The Blue Room
Jan 22 Los Angeles, CA @ Permanent Records Roadhouse
Jan 24 Salt Lake City, UT @ The DLC
Jan 25 Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club (Ballroom)
Tour poster
‘Petite Deaths’ EP Art
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