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Mar 08, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer has released a new album, There Will Be No Intermission, today via 8 Ft. Records/Cooking Vinyl. Now that the album is out, you can stream the whole thing below. She has also shared a video for “Voicemail for Jill,” which tackles abortion and was one of our Songs of the Week. Watch the video below as well, followed by Palmer’s upcoming tour dates.

Amber Sealey directed the “Voicemail for Jill” video from a concept by Palmer. Kate Adams plays Jill and the video visualizes the narrative of the song, in which Palmer “reaches out to a friend on her way to an abortion clinic.”

“I wrote this song as a gift, a handbook,” Palmer said in a previous press release, “for any woman on her way to have an abortion, and as a reminder that this is not an experience you have to face alone.”

Palmer also had this to say about the song in the previous press release: “I’ve been trying to write a good abortion song for twenty-five years. It’s been the white whale of my songwriting. Having had three abortions for very different reasons, and after connecting with hundreds of women who’ve gone through the same isolating and lonely experience, I just wanted to do the topic poetic justice. How do you write a song about abortion without being too heavy-handed or too preachy? It was only after being in Dublin for the abortion referendum that I came home and glued myself to the piano bench and said: ‘Amanda, write it. You’re a good enough songwriter now, you’ll find a way.’ Playing it live has felt like a hymn to every man and woman in the audience who’s never been able to talk openly about their own abortion experiences.”

Previously Palmer shared the album’s first single, “Drowning in Sound.” A demo version of “Drowning in Sound” was released in 2017 in order to support those affected by Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

John Congleton produced the album, which also features contributions from Jason Webley, Jherek Bischoff, Max Henry, and Joey Waronker. There will also be accompanying narrative photo book also entitled There Will Be No Intermission, released independently by Palmer.

Palmer had this to say about the album in a previous press release: “I’ve never been nervous about releasing a record before, but this one is different. The rise of global fascism alongside the spreading fire of #MeToo has forged a louder megaphone for all women, and we’re all seeing that radical truth is infectious. I feel more urgency than ever to share the naked truth of my experiences. The kind of stories that I’m sharing on this record - abortion, miscarriage, cancer, grief, the darker sides of parenthood - have been therapeutic and frightening to write. But every time I play them for my friends and fans, the nodding heads of empathy have lit a fire under my ass to record and release them.”

Palmer added: “Most of these songs were exercises in survival. This isn’t really the record that I was planning to make. But loss and death kept happening in real-time, and these songs became my therapeutic arsenal of tools for making sense of it all.”

Pick up Under the Radar‘s new print issue (Issue 65) to read our interview with Palmer about There Will Be No Intermission.

Read our 2016 interview with Palmer.

Amanda Palmer Tour Dates:

March:

21 - Detroit, MI - The Cathedral - Masonic Temple
22 - Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
23 - Montreal, QC - Monument National - Ludger-Duvernay Theatre

April:

5 - Washington, DC - National Theatre
6 - Philadelphia, PA - Temple Performing Arts Center
12 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre
13 - St. Paul, MN - The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University
19 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
20 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre

May:

10 - San Francisco, CA - The Warfield
11 - Los Angeles, CA - Theatre at Ace Hotel
17 - Atlanta, GA - Cobb Energy Centre
18 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
30 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
31 - Kansas City, MO - Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland

June:

1 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre
6 - Vancouver, BC - The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
7 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre
8 & 9 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom (June 8 is SOLD OUT)

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