Mackenzie Scott says, “This song is about justice being served. The rage song I’ve been trying to write for years!”
This will be her third album on Merge. Recorded in September and October 2022 at Stadium Heights Sound in Durham, North Carolina, What an enormous room produced by Mackenzie Scott and Sarah Jaffe, who played bass guitar, synths, drums, organ, and piano. Scott sang vocals, played guitar, bass, synths, organ, piano, and programmed drums. Additional synth bass, tambourine, and shakers were played by TJ Allen. “Collect” sounds huge.
New songs from Mackenzie Scott are always welcome and it’s been fun to see her evolve from her quieter, moodier 4AD material into this dynamic new Merge era. Her videos are always interesting in the way they present domestic carnality in unexpected ways. This new video for the title track of her upcoming album is no exception.
Our hero frolics at the shore while her love interest sits naked on the branch of a tree with her back to us, toes in the beach grass. Torres videos are sensual without being vulgar. I’m sure a clever point could be made about the male gaze, but I’ll leave that to smarter people.
Keep me in your fantasies
Baby, even though you live with me
The more I look, the more I see
As long as I’m around, I’ll be lookin’ for a nerve to hit
The more of you I drink, the thirstier I get.
When adults in long-term relationships talk about sex it tends to be either boring or gross. Unless it’s in a Torres song.
Video by Emily James. From Thirstier, due July 30 on Merge.
In 2018, Mackenzie Scott who records as Torres was dropped from a 3 album deal by her label 4AD “for not being commercially successful enough.” Then in 2019 she was picked up by Merge who released Silver Tongue last year.
Who knows what it even means these days to be “dropped” or “signed” to an indie label? Do labels still provide tour support or an advance on recording costs? Or do labels just promise to distribute and promote your stuff? Maybe that’s enough.
Regardless, Merge isn’t f-ing around and they’re releasing a new Torres album just 18 months after that last one. Hopefully, this means that Silver Tongue was commercially successful enough for everybody.
The leadoff single sounds beefier than her previous material. Scott has always come across as very cool verging on icy, but on “Wishes” she’s really belting it out. Her vocals are raw and intense. It’s a survival powerhouse that calls to mind the rollerskating anthems of Pat Benatar. Scott herself calls it her “relentless arena country star moment–my shameless Tim McGraw cheeseball hit.” Let’s hope so!
For a while, I was sinking
But from here on out, I swear I’m swimming.
Scott says, “I wanted to channel my intensity into something that felt positive and constructive, as opposed to being intense in a destructive or eviscerating way. I love the idea that intensity can actually be something life-saving or something joyous.”
The video was shot in her apartment, so if you’ve been hoping for an update to Joe Pernice’s “Indie Rock Cribs” this might be as close as you’re going to get.
Directed by Ashley Connor. From Silver Tongue, out January 31 on Merge.
Wow! Remember a couple years ago when Mackenzie Scott was dropped by 4AD for “not being commercially successful enough”? Well now she’s been signed by Merge and this is the first video from her new album.
She talked to Billboard back in July about her new home. “I’m glad to have found a label in Merge that’s actually run by artists and touring musicians.”
So glad she’s back and didn’t let the music business beat her down. “Three Futures” was one of the best songs of 2017 and “Dressing America” picks back up where she left off.
I tend to sleep with my boots on
Should I need to gallop over dark waters
To you on short notice
She’s from Georgia after all, so that cowboy hat and those boots are not cultural appropriation, ha ha.
Warning: The video features pastie-covered breasts so if that’s something that offends you (or your employer), you might want to hold off on playing the video.
In the last video from Torres we saw our hero walking around your Aunt Phyllis’ basement with a guitar. This new video is set upstairs in the same house, and this time Torres’ Mackenzie Scott is cast as three separate characters: the foxy housewife, the grumpy husband, and (once again) the cool guitar player. I.e., the participants in the love triangle described in the chorus where the narrator describes her three potential futures: “One alone and one with you / And one with the love I knew I’d choose.” It’s a new twist on the classic cheatin’ breakup song.
While the lyrics don’t offer much hope for the jilted lover, at least the video features a happy ending!
This song is cool and the video is creepy. Mackenzie Scott is hanging out in your Aunt Phyllis’ house (complete with pool table and intercom!) and getting groped by disembodied arms while she walks around playing the guitar. Eventually she gets down with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and another, more scantily clad hottie. The guitar tone is paranoid and the lyrics are evocative: “There’s no unlit corner of the room I’m in.”
