Queen of Swords Shares Sophomore Album 'Year 8'

Venus Fest founder and artistic director Aerin Fogel returns attention to music after years of giving the spotlight to others. Under the moniker Queen of Swords, today she releases her sophomore album, Year 8, via queer indie label Get Better Records.

The raucous first single, “A Shame,” with its embodiment of softness and harshness, explores the relatable human emotion of shame normally kept hidden. The beauteous ballad “Ways We Heal” is about the amicable end of a relationship when two people aren’t growing together any longer, and the gentle “Waiting To Love” is about unraveling our patterns so that we can move into a more loving state and comfort.

Aerin’s ability to read and advise others in her “day job” as a healing arts practitioner helps her communicate in her lyrics, which she always likes to keep hopeful.

“I think about songs as a lot like mantras,” she explains. “If you write a song and then you play it live for years, you’re repeating those words over and over to yourself and others. So I consider this when songwriting. Is this something I want to be repeating? I try to use a healing framework in the way that I write as something that I want to be repeated and listened to over and over again.”

The album title is an astrology reference “signifying deep change, intergenerational themes, and big life thresholds,” and was co-produced by Carmen Elle (DIANA) and engineered by Steve Chahley (Neko Case, Nelly Furtado, Wu-Tang Clan).

Fogel played previously in The Bitters (an offshoot of fed Up) and has released records with Captured Tracks, Mexican Summer, Sacred Bones, and toured with artists like Best Coast, Wavves, Vivian Girls, and more.