WATCH AND SHARE “WHAT MAKES ME SAD” HERE
WHAT WE SAY IN PRIVATE, OUT JULY 19, 2019, VIA NEXT DOOR RECORDS
PRE-ORDER WHAT WE SAY IN PRIVATE HERE
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES BEGIN JULY 4
WITH STOPS IN MONTREAL & TORONTO
UK / EU TOU DATES BEGIN OCTOBER 22
“…beautiful and insightful…Often, her songs end up revealing the strange and weird thoughts grief and transition can bring out of us, feeling all the more honest
and real in its chaos.” - The FADER
"...there's an artful intricacy to her lo-fi pop...Untogether in a brilliantly organised way." - Mojo
"Ada Lea has a knack for structured experimentation, and what feels like the confidence to follow her nose no matter where it might take her... personal lyrics supplemented by found sounds and a dynamic range of unexpected textures and tones." - Uncut
“what makes me sad” video still
Ada Lea – the project of Montreal-based artist and musician Alexandra Levy – today shared her video for “what makes me sad”, the third and final advance single from her forthcoming debut album, what we say in private. Directed by Max Taeuschel, the pastel-hued, dreamlike clip follows “the party” and “mercury”, which earned praise from The FADER, Gorilla vs. Bear, Brooklyn Vegan, Paste, and Under The Radar, among others. what we say in private will be released on July 19, 2019 via Next Door Records and is available for pre-order in multiple formats.
WATCH AND SHARE “WHAT MAKES ME SAD” HERE
Currently on tour in Australia with Methyl Ethel, Ada Lea will head back out on the road in North America in early August. The tour include stops in Toronto and Montreal this summer. She will also head overseas for the first time in October for a run of dates throughout Europe and the UK, including stops at London Calling in Amsterdam and the Mirrors Festival in London. A current itinerary is below.
To Levy – who is also a painter – music and visual art are different vessels for communicating similar ideas. “It's a world that I can build around me and sit inside,” she says. Through all her art, Levy explores the concept of womanhood as it feels and looks to her, as well as love and how it transforms over time. She doesn’t shy away from exploring uncomfortable and painful emotions, either. With the brightness of love, strength, and hope contrasted with the darkness of loss, suffering, isolation, and abandonment, the Ada Lea album what we say in private is a varied and vivid record that constantly seems to shift in the light, bringing together all the intricate influences she’s collected over the years.
WATCH AND SHARE “THE PARTY” HERE
what we say in private began with a need to document the ending of an important romantic relationship. Following a tormented period of staying up all night (sometimes days at a time), frantically painting or writing songs as a means of coping, she journaled for 180 days in the hope of finding herself again. She conducted this period of analysis and introspection in private, like most of her creative pursuits, and the process eventually resulted in a rebirth: a rediscovery of self and a new sense of freedom and self-acceptance. These chaotic feelings and the resulting catharsis are deeply felt in the final recording of what we say in private. Levy wanted the album to feel like a journal entry from those 180 days as she cycled through emotions. Throughout, she expresses feelings and thoughts that all humans experience behind closed doors and alone, but are conditioned to keep to themselves.
WATCH AND SHARE “MERCURY” HERE
what we say in private truly comes alive thanks to the way these recordings utilize the very real world around them, rather than shutting it all out. Expanding the boundaries of the studio, Levy, alongside the record’s producer Tim Gowdy, found new and nuanced ways of allowing the songs to flourish. “It was all part of a bigger idea,” she says. “We stuck microphones out of windows in mid-January to capture the chilly nighttime sounds. We recorded snow removal trucks backing into the lot and airplanes flying overhead. We used voice memos, a piece from here and another from there. I had built a room with the demos of my songs and Tim helped to add a second level.” As such, the album reverberates with human warmth, defined by the signature characteristics that can be found throughout -- as on “the party”, which fittingly comes wrapped up in static white noise, a soft atmosphere lingering in the distance and gently surrounding the stark instrumentation that is gradually introduced.
PRE-ORDER WHAT WE SAY IN PRIVATE HERE
PHOTO CREDIT : Bao Ngo // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
TOUR DATES
06/27 - Adelaide, AU @ The Gov * (TICKETS)
06/28 - Brisbane, AU @ The Triffid * (SOLD OUT)
06/29 - Brisbane, AU @ The Triffid * (SOLD OUT)
07/04 - Montreal, QC @ Pointe-à-Callière (FREE SHOW)
08/01 - Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel (TICKETS)
08/02 - Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool (TICKETS)
08/03 - Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle (TICKETS)
08/04 - Cambridge, MA @ Cloud Club (TICKETS)
08/10 - Montreal, QC @ Brasserie Beaubien (TICKETS)
10/22 - Troyes, FR @ Les Nuits de Champagne (TICKETS)
10/25 - Groningen, NL @ USVA (TICKETS)
10/26 - Amsterdam, NL @ London Calling (TICKETS)
10/27 - Rotterdam, NL @ Rroodkapje (TICKETS)
10/31 - Bristol, UK @ The Crofters Rights (TICKETS)
11/01 - Manchester @ The Castle Hotel (TICKETS)
11/02 - London, UK @ Mirrors Festival (TICKETS)
11/04 - Glasgow, UK @ The Hug and Pint^ (TICKETS)
11/05 - Newcastle, UK @ Surf Café (TICKETS)
11/06 - Brighton, UK @ The Hope and Ruin^ (TICKETS)
* supporting Methyl Ethel
^ with Stef Chura
WHAT WE SAY IN PRIVATE TRACKLIST
mercury
wild heart
the party
for real now (not pretend)
just one, please
what makes me sad
the dancer
yanking the pearls off around my neck…
180 days
easy
