Emily Wells has shared a new tribute song to artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz, titled “David’s Got A Problem.” She has also announced that her upcoming album Regards To The End will be released on February 25, 2022. Additionally, she has released tour dates in support of her album for the spring of 2022.
“David’s Got a Problem” is led by a somber piano and reverb doused vocals that blend together to create a melancholic atmosphere. The song is a tribute to David Wojnarowicz, an artist, writer and activist from East Village whose work frequently referenced government inaction during the AIDS epidemic. “David Wojnarowicz used to throw grass seed on the ground of the crumbling abandoned Hudson Piers which served as cruising grounds in the ’70s and ’80s,” describes Wells. “I wrote “David’s Got a Problem” on an ancient piano in a flat in Brussels while on tour,” she adds. “We had arrived in the late afternoon, road worn, and I went to bed for a nap but instead read Olivia Laing’s chapter on Wojnarowicz from her book The Lonely City. In her descriptions and excerpts from his writing, there is a lucent tenderness and rage. I wept and went to the piano, returning piously for the next two nights, caught on the melody and David’s grass and his devotion to human connection, in spite of himself. David’s writing is living and breathing, moored to his time, but walking at pace with his reader. This was the beginning of what feels like a long conversation with David, through his work and his incandescent presence, which is his genius.”
The album, Regards To The End, connects as a whole to the AIDS crisis and artists and activists who have ties to it. The album will be supported by a tour in 2022 that covers ground with eight shows from April to May. The tour is set to kick off on April 27 in Washington, DC before moving to other east coast locations like Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Cambridge. It comes to a close on May 7 in Minneapolis, MN.
Regards To The End Tracklist
1. I’m Numbers
2. Two Dogs Tethered Inside
3. Come on Kiki
4. Love Saves the Day
5. All Burn, No Bridge
6. The Dress Rehearsal
7. David’s Got a Problem
8. Arnie and Bill To The Rescue
9. Blood Brother
Emily Wells Spring 2022 Tour
4/27 – Washington, DC – Union Stage
4/28 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore
4/29 – Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere
4/30 – Cambridge, MA – The SInclair
5/1 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
5/3 – Montreal, CAN – L’Astral
5/6 – Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club
5/7 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Cafe
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