The album will be released on April 7, 2023.
Blondshell (aka Sabrina Teitelbaum) is excited to announce the April 7, 2023 release of her highly anticipated self-titled debut album via Partisan Records (IDLES, Beth Orton, Fontaines D.C.).
To mark the occasion, she shares her newest single, "Joiner," an album highlight that exemplifies her ability to layer her wry sense of humor atop weighty topics. Like the epiphanies from a therapy session, "Joiner's" lyrics coalesce with hooks and adventurous melodies that are simply a blast.
"I was listening to a lot of Britpop when I wrote this song," Teitelbaum says."A lot of those bands (The Verve, Pulp, Suede, Blur etc.) channeled dark subject matter, drugs, and all this dirty stuff, but with a fun acoustic guitar under it. I was listening to The Replacements, too. That's what this song was inspired by sonically. I wanted it to feel like you're watching HBO, where even though it's heavy, it's still a good time."
Describing "Joiner" Rolling Stone say "Inspired by Britpop, the track is like a darker Coffee & TV,' containing a sunny acoustic chorus that contrasts with lyrics about scoring drugs and sleeping in bars with a gun in your bag." Sabrina recently talked to them about her forthcoming album - you can read that story here.
Blondshell is currently touring North America as support for Suki Waterhouse. The tour stops at New York's Webster Hall on Jan. 28 and concludes with two nights in Los Angeles at The Fonda and El Rey on Feb. 10 and 11, respectively. Additionally, Blondshell will make her return to Austin for SXSW 2023. See all tour dates below and visit www.blondshellmusic.com for more information.
In the past few years, the 25-year-old Teitelbaum has transformed into a songwriter without fear. The loud-quiet excavations that comprise the hook-filled Blondshell don't only stare traumas in the eye, they tear them at the root and shake them, bringing precise detail to colossal feelings. They're clear-eyed statements of and about digging your way towards confidence, self-possession, and relief.
Teitelbaum starting teasing Blondshell in 2022, capturing the attention of music critics and fans along the way with singles "Olympus," "Kiss City," "Veronica Mars," and "Sepsis," which Rolling Stone listed as their #1 Pick of the Month for their "Recommends" column. Last fall Blondshell also released non-album track "Cartoon Earthquake" as part of the Spotify Singles series.
Born and raised in New York City, Teitelbaum moved to Los Angeles for music school in 2015. Entering USC's Pop Program, she was swept into a context where the brooding pop legacies of Lorde and Lana Del Rey reigned. She dropped out after two years, but while there studied classic and jazz theory, and the art of harmonies, and found herself writing songs inside the world of pop studio sessions.
The biggest gift the pop machine gave her was the stark clarity of realizing that she didn't quite belong there. Her music was increasingly too raw and intense to easily categorize, and after finishing her last full-on pop EP with producer Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Girlpool, Porches) at the start of the pandemic, she gave herself permission to write without expectation. She began penning songs just for herself, with no thought that she would release them. The process emboldened her. Subtracting self-consciousness became a catalyst for the lucid songs of Blondshell, on which her experiences all coalesce to form her truest expressions of self yet. "It was me, as a person, in my songs," she says. When she showed a few to Rothman, he encouraged her to write an album, joining a chorus of friends saying, "This is you."
That bracing honesty charges every note of Blondshell. With the world at a screeching halt, she recommitted to guitar and revisited the galvanic 90s alt-rock of Nirvana and Hole, absorbing their simmers and explosions, the crests and contours that made their abrasive version of pop so potent. Immersing herself into books, too-particularly the writing of Patti Smith, Rebecca Solnit, Rachel Cusk, and Clare Sestanovich-she found patience and permission. "I loved how seriously she took her own experiences," Teitelbaum says of Solnit's Recollections of My Nonexistence. "It helped me not trivialize the things I was going through."
For all its complicated, soul-baring subject matter-processing post-lockdown social anxiety, her relationships with men as well as with women-Blondshell is a comfort, and its songs often contain the perfectly-calibrated humor and levity we need to survive. "There were a lot of things that I was running away from-mainly loneliness, self-esteem stuff," Teitelbaum says.
It all left her yearning to make the kind of music that has helped her feel empowered herself-and the way there was in telling the truth. "I always want to make people feel like they have more power and control and peace because I know what it feels like to want that for myself. I know how music has helped me get there," she says. "What I've realized I need to do is write realistically, and try to not bring shame into the writing. Each song gave me more confidence. I hope the songs help people in that way, too."
Watch the new music video here:
01/24/23 - Toronto, ON - The Axis Club*
01/25/23 - Montreal, QC - Le Studio TD*
01/27/23 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer*
01/28/23 - New York, NY - Webster Hall*
01/29/23 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club*
01/31/23 - Washington, DC - The Black Cat*
02/01/23 - Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle*
02/03/23 - Atlanta, GA - Terminal West*
02/04/23 - Nashville, TN - The Basement East*
02/06/23 - Dallas, TX - Cambridge Room HOB*
02/07/23 - Austin, TX - Antone's*
02/09/23 - Phoenix, AZ - The Crescent Ballroom*
02/10/23 - Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theater*
02/11/23 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theater*
03/13/23 - 03/18/23 - Austin, TX - SXSW
03/22/23 - 03/26/23 - Boise, ID - Treefort Festival
* denotes with Suki Waterhouse
05/11/23 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival
05/13/23 - Paris, France - Point Éphémère
05/14/23 - Tourcoing, France - Le Grand Mix
05/15/23 - Cologne, Germany - Helios37
05/17/23 - Berlin, Germany - Privatclub
05/18/23 - Hamburg, Germany - Molotow Skybar
05/19/23 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - London Calling Festival
05/20/23 - Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
05/24/23 - London, UK - Moth Club
05/25/23 - Manchester, UK - YES
05/26/23 - Bristol, UK - The Louisiana
05/27/23 - London, UK - Wide Awake Festival
05/30/23 - Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Festival
06/06/23 - Madrid, Spain - Primavera Festival
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