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Oct 17, 2023 By Mark Redfern Photography by Alexa Viscius

IAN SWEET (the project of Jilian Medford) is releasing a new album, SUCKER, on November 3 via Polyvinyl. Now she has shared the album’s third single, “Smoking Again.” Listen below, followed by IAN SWEET’s upcoming tour dates.

Medford had this to say about the new song in a press release: “I often put myself in situations that I know won’t be beneficial to me, just to get a rise out of myself. Almost like setting up obstacles just to see if I could overcome them.”

Previously Medford shared the album’s first single, “Your Spit.” Then she shared the album’s second single, “Emergency Contact,” via a music video. “Emergency Contact” was #1 on our Songs of the Week list.

SUCKER is the follow-up to 2021’s Show Me How You Disappear and 2022’s Star Stuff EP.

Medford says Show Me How You Disappear “was written during a really difficult period of my life after reckoning with a mental health crisis. I survived that very moment in my life through writing that record, and the extreme urgency to heal is reflected in the songwriting. With SUCKER, I felt more capable to take my time and experiment without being totally afraid of the outcome. It wasn’t life or death—it was just life, and I was lucky to be living it.”

SUCKER was co-produced by Alex Craig (Binki, Claud) and Isaac Eiger of Strange Ranger and was mixed by Al Carlson (St. Vincent, Jessica Pratt).

“I revisited the reasons why I started playing music to begin with,” Medford says. “I wanted to get more personal and showcase a more confident side musically and lyrically.”

Check out our COVID-19 Quarantine Artist Check In with Medford.

IAN SWEET Tour Dates:

Sat. Nov. 4 - Brighton, UK @ Mutations Festival
Thu. Nov. 9 - London, UK @ Pitchfork Music Festival London - Hackney Church %
Sun. Nov. 12 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Tue. Nov. 14 - Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
Fri. Nov. 17 - Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon

% w/ Crumb, Helado Negro

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