The third song unveiled from Brandi Carlile’s highly anticipated new album, Returning To Myself, “Church & State” is out today. “Church & State” was written by Carlile, Andrew Watt and Carlile’s longtime bandmates Phil and Tim Hanseroth.

Carlile shares about the song, “Written and sung on November 5, 2024, after 11pm. The only things in life that are certain are death and taxes. I wouldn’t dare dodge either one of those things. One thing I know for sure is that we will all be dependent physically and esoterically on the young people that we dump our insanity onto. We crawl twice in our lives. With any luck in our infancy, we’re lifted into loving arms. Who will lift us up when we’ve grown old and burned the whole world down? Not the ones left to sort through the ashes. Let the violent hands be lifted by their religion.” Listen to the new song below. 

Carlile is back with her eighth studio album and first solo project in four years. After pouring herself into collaborations with musical icons and legends, the 11x GRAMMY Award-winning and 1x Oscar-nominated songwriter is looking inward, reflecting backward and ultimately, returning home on her brand-new album, Returning To Myself, which will be out on October 24 on Interscope Records/Lost Highway for pre-order. 

Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Schulz