Press photo, credit: Jonny Marlow
Roach, the highly anticipated new album from vocalist, songwriter and producer Miya Folick, is out this Friday, May 26 via Nettwerk— pre-order/pre-save it here.
“For better or for worse, my music is about my own life. It's deeply personal and honest. While I do bend the truth for a rhyme here and there, I tried my best not to do that on Roach. It felt important for there to be lyrical transparency on this album. Urgent even. Lifesaving even!” Folick says.
“Roach is about so many things, and I find myself resisting the pull to distill it into one theme. I've always felt drawn to art that felt specific in content but thematically panoramic. It's about life! But, if I'm being honest, honesty is what this album is really about. Over the course of writing Roach, I discovered, or rather was shown again and again, that dishonesty and all the things that accompany it—hiding, repression, lying to others, lying to yourself, shame, etc.—are poison and need to be banished by any means necessary. Honesty is difficult and magical and requires constant attention. That's what the Roach is about.”
Additionally, to celebrate the album’s release, Folick confirms a run of North American headline dates later this year, with stops in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and more—see full routing below. General on-sale begins June 2 at 10A.M. local time.
Folick will also play a special sold-out headline show to celebrate the album release at Moroccan Lounge tomorrow, May 25 and festival slots at Life Is Beautiful and Austin City Limits this fall. Additionally, she will join The Head and the Heart/Father John Misty on a North American tour later this year, following recently wrapped dates with Dermot Kennedy, Aly & AJ and Tove Lo— see full routing below and get tickets here.
Roach features previously shared tracks, “So Clear,” which Stereogum praised as “an effervescent pop tune built around a percolating synth line, with Folick exulting in a moment of epiphany,” “Get Out Of My House,” which was featured on NPR’s All Songs Considered and can be heard in the film Cora Bora—starring Meg Stalter (“Hacks”) and featuring score and original music by Folick—“Cockroach,” which was included in The New York Times Playlist, and a number of other singles. Check out her recent feature in Cosmopolitan’s Pride Issue here.
Moreover, Folick has collaborated on a special limited edition t-shirt with L.A. art and design collective Brain Dead, available today in her webstore along with a vinyl pre-order and several new merch items—see a photo of the shirt below and visit the webstore here.
With earworm melodies, heart-wrenching poetry, eclectic production and anchored by Folick’s once-in-a-lifetime voice, Roach is a document of where Folick is now and what it took to get there, all the head-spinning highs and soul-crushing lows included. Lyrically, the album prioritizes an honest and simple approach—following the release of her 2018 debut album, Premonitions, Folick got the sense that the only way forward was to dig beneath the dense poetry she used to hide behind and put her most honest foot forward, no matter how uncomfortable that process may be. Not only does Roach accomplish this, but it goes a step beyond too, with Folick learning to wear the hardship she has endured like a badge of honor. “It’s an album about trying to get to the core of what life really is,” she explains.
With radical honesty as the guiding approach, Folick enlisted a team of collaborators who she trusted to expose the grittier side of her artistry, including Gabe Wax (War on Drugs, Fleet Foxes), Mike Malchicoff (King Princess, Bo Burnham), Max Hershenow (MS MR) and a team of some of LA’s best players. The result is an album that, in classic Folick style, straddles a line between pop and something more experimental and sounds as brutally direct and intimate as the subject matter at hand.
Raised in Santa Ana, CA and now living in Los Angeles, Folick first attracted acclaim with two EPs, 2015’s Strange Darling and 2017’s Give It To Me EP. Folick’s 2018 Terrible Records/Interscope debut album Premonitions drew critical praise from NPR, GQ, Pitchfork, The FADER and many more; landed her a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR and saw her sell out headline shows and play festivals all over the world.
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