Former Au Revoir Simone member Annie Hart has announced a new album, The Weight Of A Wave, which will be out August 4 via Uninhabitable Mansions. While she’s mostly been associated with the gentler side of synthesizers, the new album shows she can rock out too.
You can hear those loud and fuzzy guitars on “Stop Staring at You,” the album’s first single. “This song was inspired by a very charismatic friend of mine who was addicted to looking at how many likes they had on Instagram,” Annie says. “I had fallen under their otherwise charming spell and was along for the ride of their friendship and fun adventures. One night, I saw them surrounded by fawning half-fans and saw them basking in the glow of this empty affection, and all lit up by being worshiped, and I just saw the sad emptiness of that kind of existence and knew there was nothing I could do for this person, that they had became the prisoner of their own misery. This song is about not judging your self worth on other people’s half-attention and finding your true value in yourself and your real relationships.”
The video for the song was directed by Benjamin Kasulke and Annie describes as a meta take on the song’s theme. “It zooms out and makes fun of me – I hired a director to make a video that is all about me, singing a song about other people obsessed with themselves,” Annie says. “I wanted to make a statement about how we are all participants in this sort of self-indulgent behavior. But I also just wanted to dance and make weird art on the beach.” Watch below.
Annie will be on tour this summer, including dates with Jimmy Whispers and Fred Armisen. She’ll play TV Eye on August 18. She also plays tonight (6/20) at Sundown Bar in Ridgewood with Nico Hedley and Jane Herships. All dates are listed below.
The Weight Of A Wave
1: Boy You Got Me Good
2: Crowded Cloud
3: I Never Do
4: A Lot of Thought
5: Waking Up
6: What Makes Me Me
7: Stop Staring at You
8: Falling
9: Nothing Makes Me Happy Anymore
10: While Without
Annie Hart – 2023 Tour Dates
Tue-June 20 Brooklyn, NY Sundown Bar
Mon-Aug 7 North Adams, MA Tourists
Wed-Aug 9 Kingston, NY Tubby’s
Sat-Aug 12 Anchorage, AK Wendy Williamson Auditorium *
Wed-Aug 16 Washington, DC Comet Ping Pong
Thu-Aug 17 Philadelphia, PA The Dolphin
Fri-Aug 18 Brooklyn, NY TV Eye
Tue-Aug 22 Seattle, WA Here-After #
Wed-Aug 23 Portland, OR Missippi Studios #
Fri-Aug 25 San Francisco, CA Cafe du Nord #
Sat-Aug 26 Los Angeles, CA Zebulon #
* = w/ Fred Armisen
# = w/ Jimmy Whispers