Iconoclastic pop darling Allie X returns with a new album, Cape God, an extensive tour and a new single - the ominous yet instantly memorable "Devil I Know," destined for Alternative radio airwaves and now available for download / streaming.
"The lyrics to 'Devil I Know' follow my inner dialogue as I address my abuser directly. 'Everytime I take your lead feels like a curse. Everytime I try to stop, feels even worse. Baby you're the devil I know. Better than the devil I don't...," explains Allie X. "What the listener realizes as the song goes on, is that I am actually singing to myself as the perpetrator, inflicting all my own suffering. 'I could scream somebody help me out. But the wicked one is me.' This is a song about your own inner demons, how difficult it is to quiet them, and how easy it is to stay embraced in their arms."
Allie welcomes fans to Cape God in this short video clip. Set for February 21 release via Twin Music, the album features Mitski (on "Susie Save Your Love") and Troye Sivan (On "Love Me Wrong"). Cape God is a carefully constructed meditation on universal themes of identity and belonging and, most importantly, a declaration of the autonomy we have when it comes to redefining ourselves and our place in the world. Allie subverts the notion of Cape Cod - the East Coast playground of elite insiders - and plunges listeners into a gloomy, grandiose fantasy world where anxiety-ridden outsiders take center stage. Against a backdrop of darkly dreamlike production, she recalls teenage alienation and rethinks ostracization as a vehicle to unite rather than isolate. See below for track listing.
"I was waiting for the right moment and place and maturity level where I could comfortably and accurately put these feelings into song," Allie X explains. "This sort of margin in time and space helped me dive in and explore some repressed childhood feelings."
Her forthcoming headline tour will immerse fans in this surreal world. The North American leg kicks off on March 22 at House of Blues in San Diego. It will include shows at Avant Gardner in Brooklyn (April 7) and The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles (April 23). The European/UK leg runs from May 28 - June 6.
Cape God is available for pre-order in CD, single sleeve vinyl and deluxe gatefold vinyl editions. Album/ticket bundles, meet-and-greet packages and merchandise are also available.
"Devil I Know" is the fifth new song that Allie X has unveiled in the lead-up to release of Cape God. Vulture praised lead single "Fresh Laundry" as "one of her most sophisticated songs yet, built on a noir-ish minimal beat that reminds me of St. Vincent or Nine Inch Nails." Naming her one of the "essential new artists for 2020," NME noted, "She can take a line about fresh laundry and turn it into something transcendental."
Reviewing "Love Me Wrong" ft. Troye Sivan, TIME said, "Allie X's evolution continues, and this iteration has my full attention. ['Love Me Wrong'] is first of all absolutely gorgeous. I could get drunk on this song for days." Allie X describes "Regulars" as "an anthem for outsiders and one of my favorite songs I've ever written."
V Magazine observed, "You know Allie X already: she's the weird girl with the best shoes - who everyone else secretly wishes they were brave enough to befriend, bitch." In 2019, she toured with Charli XCX and Marina and The Diamonds, prompting NME to note, "it's starting to feel like she might already be part of the new decade's pop Justice League." In recent months, she has been featured on the covers of Dress To Kill (Canada), Bricks (UK) and Vestal.
Cape God is the follow-up to 2018's Super Sunset, which NYLON praised as the enigmatic artist's "most open effort yet, a semi-fictionalized account inspired by falling in love and her life amidst all the L.A. glitz and glamour." GQ said, "[On] the exceptional, singular Super Sunset, she finally enters the gates of pop heaven."
1. Fresh Laundry
2. Devil I Know
3. Regulars
4. Sarah Come Home
5. Rings A Bell
6. June Gloom
7. Love Me Wrong Ft. Troye Sivan
8. Super Duper Party People
9. Susie Save Your Love Ft. Mitski
10. Life Of The Party
North America
3/22 - San Diego, CA @ House of Blues - Voodoo Room
3/23 - Santa Ana, CA @ Observatory OC - Constellation Room
3/24 - San Francisco, CA @ Slim's
3/26 - Portland, OR @ Holocene
3/27 - Vancouver, BC @ Venue Nightclub
3/28 - Seattle, WA @ The Sunset
3/31 - Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
4/1 - Detroit, MI @ The Shelter
4/2 - Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix Concert Theatre
4/4 - Montreal, QC @ L'Astral
4/5 - Boston, MA @ Sonia
4/7 - Brooklyn, NY @ Avant Gardner
4/8 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Black Box at Underground Arts
4/9 - Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
4/11 - Atlanta, GA @ Vinyl
4/12 - Nashville, TN @ High Watt
4/15 - Austin, TX @ The Parish
4/16 - Dallas, TX @ House of Blues - Cambridge Room
4/18 - Denver, CO @ Marquis Theater
4/20 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
4/22 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge
4/23 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
Europe/UK
5/28 - Milan, Italy @ Arci Ohibo
5/30 - Berlin, Germany @ Privat Club
5/31 - Cologne, Germany @ JAKI Club
6/1 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg Upstairs
6/4 - London, UK @ Heaven
6/6 - London, UK @ Mighty Hoopla Festival
Videos