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Mar 21, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Speedy Ortiz

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Speedy Ortiz are releasing a new album, Twerp Verse, on April 27 via Carpark. Previously they shared a video for its first single, “Lucky 88.” Now here’s another new song from the album, “Lean In When I Suffer,” also shared via a video. Ari Ratner directed the clip, in which the band seek to be happy via a self-help group of sorts. Watch it below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Frontwoman Sadie Dupuis had this to say about the song and video in a press release: “‘Lean In When I Suffer’ is about that fun breed of ‘ally’ who wears out their already exhausted friends by relying on us for excessive emotional labor. They want props for their wokeness, but don’t want to put in any actual work or divest themselves of power. They just taaaake uuuup spaaaace, and shut down when you try to talk them through their problematic tendencies. Because #selfcare? So you’re stuck in a toxic vampiric loop trying to maintain a relationship—Lean In AND Suffer, why don’t you! Director Ari Ratner took this concept a step further to address another annoyance we found relatable as hell, which is when ‘people give unsolicited advice about how to beat depression. [They] typically fail to acknowledge depression as a real illness and often minimize the experiences of the person they are trying to help.’ So our OK-to-Cry-Corral band gets put through happiness bootcamp from a group of clowns who’ve ‘never been sad’ (and some accompanying Crayola-bright illustrations from Julia Emiliani).

Ultimately, playing angry rock songs is our favorite form of therapy.

(And also, real therapy. That shit works.)”

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

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