Today, renowned singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs announces her first full length studio album in over decade, Avalanche, set for release September 22 on Yep Roc Records, where she signed earlier this year. Alongside the album announcement, Youngs has released the title track “Avalanche” with a stunning visualizer she curated of found archival footage of, fittingly, avalanches. Additionally, she released a live performance video of “Avalanche” featuring Jenny alongside Peter Silberman of The Antlers. Paste premiered the performance and single, praising it as a “thoughtful, introspective indie-folk track that centers Youngs’ airy, grieving vocals atop a patient silky guitar and snare-heavy percussion.”
“Avalanche,” co-written with Madi Diaz, the title track and first song on the record, is a perfect gateway into the grand emotional arc that Jenny Owen Youngs so deftly narrates and chronicles. “An avalanche is an extreme force, it can cause great harm, and when it’s over, you can be certain things will be different than they were before,” says Youngs. “When it came time to name the album, this song leapt forward as the title track, because the unifying theme of this body of songs, to me, is the idea of moving from destruction to restoration, traveling through pain to possibility.”
“Avalanche” starts off with an iconic piano instrumental followed by a relaxing acoustic guitar. The visuals consist of mountains and clouds through a grainy camera. The lyrics illustrate the conflict that Youngs has been through the past ten years. “What I know is that I’m good At getting on then getting right back off the hook Making plans for someone else But every book I’ve ever held re-writes itself”. This is inspired from her divorce, finding love again, relocating to Los Angeles, and remarrying. This theme of rebuilding presents itself throughout the song the song: “Something about my savage heart That wants to tear your world apart And stitch it all right back together for you”. “Used to worry I was a goner Wanted just what I wanted Scraping down at the bottom Thought I’d never dig out”. Youngs describes her struggle for a better life. The song ends with an instrumental outro while repeating “For you Got plans for you”.
Avalanche Tracklist:
- Avalanche
- Knife Went In
- Goldenrod
- Everglades
- Bury Me Slowly
- Next Time Around
- It’s Later Than You Think
- Salt
- Set It On Fire
- Now Comes the Mystery
Leave a Comment