Juliana's official site has had a makeover in time for the new album.
Among the updates there, you can now view the lyrics for Pussycat, or you can wait for the music. You will not be judged whichever you choose.
An updated collection of Juliana's art including images inspired by the US presidential election is now on auction at ebay for the next week:
ebay.com/cln/hatf_juli/Original-artwork-by-Juliana-Hatfield-April-2017/395662134013
A new video as premiered today at Stereogum, where Juliana has given a couple of quotes.
The new album's not far away now.
In addition to the previously announced pre-orders for various physical formats at American Laundromat Records, Pussycat is now listed at iTunes, where the track Wonder Why is available immediately.
Also, with shipping costs in mind, Europeans may wish to note that the vinyl version is available from UK distributor Cargo Records.
Photo: David Young
Updates as of April 3:
New dates have been added at New Haven, CT on April 22, Lakewood, OH on April 29, Columbus, OH on April 30, and Chicago, IL on May 1.
Any more will be updated here.
The full list of announced dates is now:
April 21 Newport, RI - The Cafe at Parlor
April 22 New Haven, CT - Cafe Nine
April 23 Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
April 24 Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle
April 25 Vienna, VA – Jammin Java
April 26 NYC, NY – Mercury Lounge
April 27 NYC, NY - Mercury Lounge
April 29 Lakewood, OH - Mahall's
April 30 Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups
May 1 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
(*thanks to Andrew on the This is The Sound forum for spotting that the Newport show is no longer listed on Juliana's agent's site)
Juliana was part of the bill at Paradise Rock Club last night, appearing with Nada Surf, Belly, Bill Janovitz, and more, in a benefit show for the ACLU.
Her set featured tracks from next month's Pussycat album. The night also saw the first ever electric performance of Minor Alps.
Maura Johnston has reviewed the show for The Boston Globe, there are photos at Daykamp Music, and inevitably there are bits on YouTube including new song Short-Fingered Man, plus the Minor Alps electric version (yay!) of I Don't Know What To Do With My Hands.
See also Stacee Sledge's compilation of short clips from the entire show including bits of the other artists. Here's Stacee's alternative view of the Minor Alps track:
Thanks to regular contributor David Young for these great photos:
Ahead of this weekend's ACLU benefit show in Boston, David Brusie for the The Boston Globe has spoken to a number of the artists performing including Matthew Caws and Tanya Donelly. Juliana is quoted and mentions Trump, her pride of the city and also the themes of the new album:
[‘Pussycat’] is pro-America, it’s pro-freedom, it’s anti-hatred, anti-lies. That’s what I would say. It’s standing up for the important things that the majority of the people around the world value. That’s what the ACLU is also trying to protect.
American Laundromat Records on Instagram:
Lorde, responding to Juliana's words at Talkhouse.
Wonder Why is the second track to be revealed from next month's Pussycat album.
It premiered today at Consequence of Sound, where there's also an interview by Ben Kaye including Juliana's comments on this new song:
(CoS) Can you talk a bit about “Wonder Why”? Specifically, what was the songwriting process for this one like in particular, and what was the message you wanted to get across?
(JH) “Wonder Why” is different than the rest of the songs on the album in terms of its subject matter. It is very nostalgic. It is memories from the 1970’s when I was a child. Colors and furniture and TV shows and movies and events specific to my experience of that era soothe me, somehow. It’s escapism and lately escapism is more important to me than ever. In my mind I go back there to my childhood and it comforts me. And even the melody is reminiscent of the great AM radio pop hits of the 1970’s. It’s a little bit ELO or something. Not intentionally but just because that era and its music and feeling is really ingrained in my psyche. Some of the details in the song are factually incorrect because I needed certain words to fit and to rhyme. My childhood kitchen, for example, was light blue and not avocado green.
Juliana, writing for Talkhouse on Lorde's excellent new single Green Light:
I always want music to be a tangible thing that I can wrap my actual arms around (I have hugged my boom box before), but it isn’t. I want what I can’t have. I want to sink my teeth into the sound of that rich, strong, honest voice. I want to drink and drink and gulp it down; that is the magic of a well-built and -performed and -recorded pop song. You get filled up, and sometimes you overflow with cleansing tears and cathartic shouting-along — if only temporarily — until the song is over, and then you play it again. It’s like a drug or a sugar rush. “Green Light” is ear candy.
It's a great read.
talkhouse.com/lordes-green-light-sated-juliana-hatfields-undying-sweet-tooth/
UPDATE Lorde's comments:
Impossible Song is the first track to be released from the upcoming album Pussycat.
It premiered today at PopMatters.
There's also a short article at The Boston Globe where Juliana talks about the album:
“I’m definitely not a time waster. I try to do everything as quickly and thiftily as I can,”...“But this was especially quick. I guess cathartic is the word. It was kind of like an electric flash of creativity. For better or worse, it just happened.”
The new album details are here!
It's called Pussycat and is due for release on April 21, 2017 now April 28, 2017.
The press release:
“I wasn’t planning on making a record,” says Juliana Hatfield, of her new “Pussycat” album. In fact, she thought her songwriting career was on hiatus, and that she had nothing left to say in song form; that she had finally said it all after two decades as a recording artist.
But then the presidential election happened. “All of these songs just started pouring out of me. And I felt an urgency to record them, to get them down, and get them out there.” She booked some time at Q Division studios in Somerville, Massachusetts near her home in Cambridge and went in with a drummer (Pete Caldes), an engineer (Pat DiCenso) and fourteen brand-new songs. Hatfield produced and played every instrument other than drums—bass, keyboards, guitars, vocals. From start to finish—recording through mixing—the whole thing took a total of just twelve and a half days to complete.
“It was a blur. It was cathartic,” says Hatfield. “I almost don’t even understand what happened in there, or how it came together so smoothly, so quickly. I was there, directing it all, managing it, getting it all done, but I was being swept along by some force that was driving me. The songs had a will, they forced themselves on me, or out of me, and I did what they told me to do. Even my hands—it felt like they were not my hands. I played bass differently-- looser, more confident, better.”
“Pussycat” comes on the heels of last year’s Hatfield collaboration with Paul Westerberg, the I Don’t Cares’ “Wild Stab” album, and before that, 2015’s Juliana Hatfield Three (“My Sister”, “Spin The Bottle”) reunion/reformation album, “Whatever, My Love”.
“I’ve always been prolific and productive and I have a good solid work ethic but this one happened so fast, I didn’t have time to think or plan,” says Hatfield. “I just went with it, rode the wave. And now it is out of my hands. It feels a little scary.”
”Pussycat” is being released into a very tense, divided and inflamed America. The songs are reflective of that atmosphere—angry (“When You’re A Star”), defiant (“Touch You Again”), disgusted (“Rhinoceros”), but also funny (“Short-Fingered Man”), reflective (“Wonder Why”), righteous (“Heartless”) and even hopeful (“Impossible Song”, with its chorus of ‘What if we tried to get along/and sing an impossible song’).
The artwork:
The tracklist:
- I Wanna Be Your Disease
- Impossible Song
- You're Breaking My Heart
- When You're A Star
- Good Enough For Me
- Short-Fingered Man
- Touch You Again
- Sex Machine
- Wonder Why
- Sunny Somewhere
- Kellyanne
- Heartless
- Rhinoceros
- Everything Is Forgiven
The pre-order info:
Orders are being taken now for Vinyl, CD and Cassette(!) at American Laundromat Records: alr-music.com/collections/catalog/products/juliana-hatfield-pussycat.
The US Tour in April / May 2017:
April 21 Newport, RI - The Café at Parlor
April 22 New Haven, CT - Cafe Nine
April 23 Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
April 24 Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle
April 25 Vienna, VA – Jammin Java
April 26 NYC, NY – Mercury Lounge
April 27 NYC, NY - Mercury Lounge
April 29 Lakewood, OH - Mahall's
April 30 Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups
May 1 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
This page will update if any further shows are announced.
Juliana is scheduled for perform at Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA on Saturday, March 18, 2017 as part of Boston Stands: A Benefit For The ACLU.
Also on the bill are Nada Surf, Belly, Evan Dando, Bill Janovitz and The Gravel Pit.
On the day of the Women's March events around the world, Freda has written about the issue for The Talkhouse.
Juliana's on board too:
Announced on Instagram:
Lightning 100 of Nashville have posted video of the 2 songs John and Juliana performed during their radio interview last October.
Thanks to Carlos for the info
Juliana's contribution to Rough Trade Publishing's A Song A Day Keeps The Pain Away project is released today.
"Kellyanne" is an exclusive to the subscription model of the project ($20+ USD), and therefore not available for individual purchase.