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Apr 11, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Speedy Ortiz

Speedy Ortiz are releasing a new album, Twerp Verse, on April 27 via Carpark. Previously they shared videos for its first two singles, “Lucky 88” and “Lean In When I Suffer.” Now here’s another new song from the album, “Villain,” also shared via a video. Elle Schneider directed the clip, in which a sea monster harasses frontwoman Sadie Dupuis as she wears various 1960s looking outfits. Watch it below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Dupuis had this to say about the song and video in a press release: “‘Villain’ is about the mental gymnastics survivors have to do, and the relief that comes when you talk through trauma with your friends, family, therapist, or whoever helps you let go of the shame you don’t deserve to feel. I wrote this song in 2014, and writing it served that kind of function for me. We were lucky to have one of our favorite musicians, Danny Seim of Menomena, add additional synths and percussion to this track.

“In talking through the video concept with director Elle Schneider, who’s been a friend and collaborator for over a decade and also directed the ‘My Dead Girl’ video, we decided to address the pervasiveness of harassment. Using color-blocking and contrasting backgrounds, Elle shows how sometimes these transgressions are obvious, but sometimes they camouflage into the background and go unnoticed—at home, at work, and in public spaces. Because she’s a genius genre nerd (and she knew we couldn’t help ourselves from making another monster-themed Speedy Ortiz videos) Elle chose, in her words, a ‘Beyond the Valley of the Dolls/Warhol/Roger Corman B-Movie style of ‘60s look,’ and personified harassment into an insidious fish monster. Someone on set during the shooting described it succinctly: ‘It’s like The Shape of Water, but not at all romantic.’”

Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley) mixed Twerp Verse, which was mastered by Emily Lazar (HAIM, Beck). For this album the band welcomes a new guitarist, Andy Molholt, who joins Sadie Dupuis (vocals, guitars, synths), Darl Ferm (bass), and Mike Falcone (drums). The band originally recorded an album in the fall of 2016, but following the 2016 Presidential election and Donald Trump’s victory, they scrapped the album and started over, with Dupuis writing all new songs over a four-month period.

“The songs on the album that were strictly personal or lovey dovey just didn’t mean anything to me anymore - that’s not the kind of music I’ve found healing or motivating in the past few years, and I was surprised I’d written so much of it,” explained Dupuis in a previous press release. “Social politics and protest have been a part of our music from day one, and I didn’t want to stop doing that on this album.”

Dupuis had this to say about the album’s title, Twerp Verse: “You need to employ a self-preservational sense of humor to speak truth in an increasingly baffling world. I call it a ‘twerp verse’ when a musician guests on a track and says something totally outlandish - like a Lil Wayne verse - but it becomes the most crucial part. I like ‘twerp’ as a diss, but in this meaning, the twerp is doing a service - shaking things up by being bold, not complacent, never silent.”

Twerp Verse is the band’s third album and the follow-up to 2015’s Foil Deer. In 2016 Dupuis also released a solo album, Slugger, under the name Sad13.

Speedy Ortiz Tour Dates:

4/21/18 - Lansing, MI - Stoopfest
5/3/18 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom
5/5/18 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
5/7/18 - Norfolk, VA - Charlie’s American Cafe
5/8/18 - Durham, NC - The Pinhook
5/9/18 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade - Purgatory
5/10/18 - Nashville, TN - The High Watt
5/12/18 - Chicago, IL - Subterranean
5/13/18 - Detroit, MI - El Club
5/14/18 - Toronto, ON - The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
5/15/18 - Montreal, QC -La Vitrola
5/17/18 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
5/29/18 - Lakewood, OH - Mahall’s
5/30/18 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar
6/1/18 - Little Rock, AR - Stickyz Rock’n'Roll Chicken Shack
6/2/18 - Austin, TX - Barracuda
6/3/18 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada
6/5/18 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel Lounge
6/6/18 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
6/7/18 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
6/9/18 - Oakland, CA - Starline Social Club
6/10/18 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord
6/12/18 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
6/13/18 - Seattle, WA - The Vera Project
6/14/18 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
6/16/18 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
6/17/18 - Omaha, NE - Reverb
6/19/18 - St. Louis, MO - Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room
6/20/18 - Indianapolis, IN - The Hi-Fi
6/26/18 - Boston, MA - Royale

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