Gina Birch Announces Second Solo Album

Gina Birch, Raincoats co-founder and singer-songwriter, has announced Trouble, her impending second album. The LP arrives July 11 via Third Man Records, its title calling to mind the “mini revolutions that have occurred” in Birch’s life. “Not following the usual paths, falling down holes, making the same mistakes over and over, trouble of being a young woman at a time our options were generally secretary, mother or sex worker,” she continues. “Trouble I’ve caused and trouble I’m in…”

In Birch’s words, Trouble celebrates “everything I can while recognizing behaviors that may be disordered or strange.” “It’s a journey through my brain, thoughts, memories, conversations… while I’m sitting with my bass, loops, guitar, and laptop,” she continues. “I don’t censor subjects, I just write them down and see where they take me. The pleasure is in untangling the thoughts and finding a way through.”

Lead single “Causing Trouble Again” is out now, its Dean Chalkley-directed music video featuring a guest list of performers including Ana Da Silva, Christine Binnie, Amy Rigby, Lora Logic, Daisy Parris, Georgina Starr, Jill Westwood, Bobby Baker, Annie Symons, and Shirley O’Loughlin. “Causing Trouble Again” was inspired by the Women in Revolt feminist art and activist exhibition at Tate Britain. Birch wrote the 6-minute track with a bevy of collaborators, including Cosey Fanni Tutti and Caroline Coon.

“For the ‘Causing Trouble Again’ video, after hearing Bob Dylan sing about a white ladder all covered with water, I became obsessed with white ladders,” Birch says. “I decided to use five white ladders, three with seven rungs… I realized later that this references Jacob’s Ladder and a connection from Earth to heaven, but I think I was thinking of ladders as a symbol of getting on, getting up. I wanted to have a choreographed movement with four of us with these ladders. How do we move with ladders? Do we move together, do we fight, do we dance?”