Kathleen Hanna’s latest band, The Julie Ruin, has announced plans to release their next record this summer. Titled Hit Reset, the release will be available on LP, CD, digital, and cassette formats on Friday, July 8th, The Julie Ruin’s first full-length since 2013’s Run Fast and the release of the biographical documentary The Punk Singer (which charts Kathleen Hanna’s career from the founding of Bikini Kill through to this latest iteration of The Julie Ruin). The album is currently available for preorder.
The group has already released the album’s lead single, “I Decide” via Pitchfork and Henry Rollins’ KCRW radio show. Check out the track via SoundCloud below.
Kathleen Hanna says of the new material, “I was way more honest lyrically on this record because we’d been on the road together and I felt more confident taking risks in front of my bandmates… I’ve written about my personal bouts with illness, abuse, sexism and how hard it is for me to walk away from people even when they are toxic Tasmanian Devils before, but not in this way.”
The Julie Ruin first came together through Hanna’s manipulation in 2009. After a 5 year hiatus, Kathleen recruited Bikini Kill bandmate Kathi Wilcox, when she moved to New York; Carmine Covelli, Le Tigre as their video guru, while at Hanna’s birthday party where she could not say no; and Sara Landeau and Kathleen, who both taught at Girls Rock Camp and were recruited for their surf-informed style; and Kenny Mellman who was under that impression that they would write and sell country songs together.
The Julie Ruin came together in 2010 and began to play by learning songs from Hanna’s other projects: Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and the first solo Julie Ruin record from 1997. When Kathi moved to New York, they began to create original music that would appear on their self-released Run Fast in 2013. The band followed up the release of the album with a world tour.
The group started to work on Hit Reset in 2014. The new album was mixed by Eli Crews and, according to a press release, expands on the band’s established sound: “dancier in spots and moodier in others, with girl group backing vocals and even a touching ballad closer. Hit Reset is the sound of a band who have found their sweet spot.”
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