featured image: credit – Mackenzie Walker
WISECRACK DUE SEPTEMBER 15TH VIA ARTS & CRAFTS
On the heels of her headline shows on the west coast last month, Vancouver’s Haley Blais shares her new single “The Cabin.” Arriving alongside the new song is the Zia Kalyan-directed video portraying Haley as the conductor of a surreal, chaotic orchestra in a grand theatre. “The Cabin” follows the announcement of Haley’s sophomore full-length album Wisecrack, due September 15th via Arts & Crafts.
Speaking about the new track, Haley shares about the cabin that was the inspiration describing, “A sweaty, dehydrated memory of my summers spent in the cabin on the lake. It wasn’t our cabin — my dad’s brother’s wife’s cousin’s friends owned it or something — but it was ours. I had my first sips of beer, first almost kisses. It’s a fluffy recollection until the guitars break through with their overbearing distortion like a roaring tidal wave and I’m thrown back into the discomfort of real time.
I don’t wanna be the smoke inside the living room / Can you open up the patio door? / I don’t wanna be wet inside your swimming shoes / Can you take me out and shake me on shore?”
Additionally, Haley is set to hit the road to support Tommy Lefroy this September and October for 8 shows including stops in Boston, New York City, Toronto, Philadelphia and Chicago. On October 20th, Haley will perform a hometown album release show for Wisecrack at The Hollywood Theatre in Vancouver before heading over to Europe for a string of shows in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Glasgow, Bristol, Manchester, London and Brighton. Also, Haley is set to perform at Pitchfork Paris on November 12th at Petit Bain. Full tour routing listed below and ticket information HERE.
Haley’s forthcoming sophomore effort Wisecrack is concerned with conscience, morality, and the superego. It’s “bleak but true,” as Haley puts it. “Am I a good person or not? Are we all doing okay? Am I a good daughter? Sister? Partner? Friend?” Haley’s new album is more mature, confessional, focused, and darker than anything she has yet produced. The existential, everyday worries we all contain but rarely share are laid bare across 11 songs exquisitely performed with profundity, grace, and humor. All of Wisecrack is textured and wryly poetic, somewhere between childhood memory and the creation of a new self.
Along with “The Cabin,” Wisecrack will include the 2022 singles “Coolest fucking bitch in town” and “Survivor’s Guilt” along with the recently shared tracks “Matchmaker,” and “Baby Teeth,” which arrived with a video directed by Vancouver VFX artist Shea Oracheski.
About a decade ago, Haley started developing a community and fanbase as a teenager with her diaristic YouTube videos and tender ukulele covers. Since then, Haley, who sang classical opera for ten years, traded in the solo ukulele for a guitar and a five-piece band. In 2020, she released a debut full-length album of jangly pop anthems, Below the Salt, produced with indie staples Tennis and Louise Burns, featuring the vocally powerful, complex slow-burn favorite “Be Your Own Muse.” Below the Salt amassed millions of streams and avid support from publications like NPR, NYLON, and i-D and led to a North American tour with Peach Pit. Most recently, Haley signed to iconic indie label Arts & Crafts for the release of her sophomore album.
Check out “The Cabin” and pre-order/save Wisecrack above, see upcoming live dates and full album details below and stay tuned for more from Haley Blais coming soon.
Upcoming Live Dates
^ = Tommy Lefroy
* = headline show
9/23 – Boston, MA @ Cafe 939 – Berkeley^
9/25 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom^
9/27 – Toronto, ON @ Drake Underground^
9/28 – Montreal, QC @ Le Ministrere, Pop Montreal^
9/30 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Lounge at World Cafe^
10/2 – Washington, D.C. @ Pie Shop*
10/4 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade (Purgatory)^
10/5 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In^
10/6 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas^
10/20 – Vancouver, BC @ The Hollywood Theatre* [ALBUM RELEASE SHOW]
10/28 – Amsterdam, NL @ London Calling*
10/30 – Copenhagen, DK @ Ideal Bar*
10/31 – Stockholm, SE @ Nalen*
11/4 – Glasgow, SC @ CAA*
11/6 – Bristol, UK @ Dareshack*
11/7 – Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute at The Lodge*
11/8 – London, UK @ Colours*
11/9 – Brighton, UK @ Zahara*
11/12 – Paris, FR @ Petit Bain — Pitchfork Festival*
Haley Blais
Wisecrack
September 15, 2023
Arts & Crafts
1. Soft spot for monarchs
2. Survivor’s Guilt
3. Coolest fucking bitch in town
4. Reset button
5. Matchmaker
6. Concrete
7. The Cabin
8. Baby Teeth
9. Body
10. Winner
11. Beginner’s guide to birdwatching
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