Abi Reimold | photo by Haley Richter | haleyrichterphoto.com | courtesy of the artist
Listen to Abi Reimold’s “Sugar,” see her open for Julien Baker at Boot and Saddle
We’ve been following Philly singer and songwriter Abi Reimold for a while now – ever since she worked for us a photography intern a few years back – and just like her images exhibit a remarkable depth and sensitivity, so does her music.
Reimold is releasing her debut full-length, Wriggling, this month via Sad Cactus records, and recently got the Artist to Watch treatment from Stereogum. In that story, she admitted that the album was written and recorded in late 2014, but she sat on it for a while because of the subject matter. As Reimold told Stereogum’s James Rettig:
“It’s taken so long to [put out] because I’m like, should anyone even hear this? It’s kind of a fucked up record. And it’s really sad. On one hand, maybe somebody that feels the same way will listen to it and relate. But on the other hand, a person could listen to it and be like, ‘I’m justified in feeling sad,’ and I don’t want people to be sad. I want people to be happy. Life is awesome — there’s so many good things.”
The song “Sugar,” which Reimold debuted with the interview, opens on a breezy drum hit and warm Rhodes keyboards that come straight out of the 70s singer-songwriter playbook – think Janis Ian – but it swells into a punk’d up catharsis that Stereogum compares to Mitski and Angel Olsen; I’m also hearing a bit of Built to Spill in there as well. It’s a song about the feeling of loss, of dwindling connection, and concludes on the sound of a train drifting off into the night.
Check out “Sugar” below and see Reimold on January 20th when she plays Boot and Saddle with Julien Baker; tickets and more information on the show can be found at the XPN Concert Calendar.