Jay Som Announces New Album Anak Ko, Shares Lead Single “Superbike”

Dream-pop breakout Jay Som, aka Melina Duterte, has announced her follow-up to Everybody Works, Paste’s top album of 2017: Anak Ko—pronounced “Ah-nuhk Koh,” the title means “my child” in Filipino—due out Aug. 23 via Polyvinyl Record Co. and preceded by dreamy lead single “Superbike,” which arrives today alongside a lyric video.

It’s been two years since Duterte, 25, released her universally acclaimed studio debut, and much has changed, including her home base (then the Bay Area, now Los Angeles) and artistic process. Though, as she did with Everybody Works, Duterte recorded, produced, engineered and mixed Anak Ko herself at home, she adopted a new approach to its instrumentation: Vagabon’s Laetitia Tamko, Chastity Belt’s Annie Truscott, her Nothing’s Changed collaborator Justus Proffit, Boy Scouts’ Taylor Vick, and her Jay Som bandmates Zachary Elasser, Oliver Pinnell and Dylan Allard contributed additional vocals, drums, guitars, strings and pedal steel to Anak Ko, whereas Duterte played every instrument on Everybody Works. Jay Som and their collaborators wrote and recorded the new album during a week-long Joshua Tree retreat, some behind-the-scenes footage of which appears in the “Superbike” video.

Said video sees Duterte and co. at ease in the desert, hiking, holding hands and hugging by day, and working on their album at all hours. Duterte adds a bit of yee-haw energy, bobbing her pink cowboy hat-clad head while hunched over her recording console. “Superbike” itself is a sweeping dream-pop odyssey that paints from Jay Som’s sonic palette, but does so on an expansive canvas: Stretching past all but one of Everybody Works’ tracks in runtime, the single’s lyrics—which find Duterte moving on, both literally and figuratively (“I pick up the superbike / Going 80 in the night / Said you wanted something else / Something new for show and tell”)—fall away after its midpoint, shifting focus to the single’s mournful strings, ghostly voices and a guitar solo that sounds like the earth shifting beneath your feet.

Duterte says in a statement that she intended “Superbike” to be a combination of “Cocteau Twins and Alanis Morissette,” one that finds the band “letting loose over swirling shoegaze.“ She recalls, “I came up with the vocal melody while chopping onions during a rare snowstorm in Joshua Tree, definitely one of my favorite memories from making the album.” Anak Ko’s title came from a text message from Duterte’s mother: “Hi anak ko, I love you anak ko,” she addresses her daughter, as she always has. “It’s an endearing thing to say, it feels comfortable,” says Duterte, who also likens the process of creating and releasing an album to “birthing a child.”

Jay Som has announced an extensive international tour in support of her baby, in addition to her previously announced Pitchfork Music Festival performance. The 44-date fall run begins in Phoenix, Ariz., on Sept. 11, crisscrossing North America throughout September and October before sending Jay Som to Europe and the U.K. in November, concluding in Dublin, Ireland, on Nov. 27. Tickets for all dates go on sale this Friday, June 7, at 10 a.m. local time, but North American pre-sale tickets are available now with password “ANAKKO.” You can get yours here.

Watch the “Superbike” lyric video below, and find the details of Anak Ko (including María Medem’s lovely cover art) and Jay Som’s tour itinerary further down. You can preorder the album here.

Anak Ko Tracklist:
01. If You Want It
02. Superbike
03. Peace Out
04. Devotion
05. Nighttime Drive
06. Tenderness
07. Anak Ko
08. Crown
09. Get Well

Anak Ko Album Art:

Jay Som Tour Dates:

July
20 – Chicago, Ill. @ Pitchfork Music Festival

September
11 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ The Rebel Lounge #$
12 – San Diego, Calif. @ The Irenic #$
13 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Echoplex #$
14 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Fillmore #$
17 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Imperial #$
18 – Seattle, Wash. @ Neumos #$
19 – Portland, Ore. @ Doug Fir Lounge #$
20 – Boise, Idaho @ Neurolux #$
21 – Salt Lake City, Utah @ Urban Lounge #$
24 – Denver, Colo. @ Larimer Lounge #$
26 – Dallas, Texas @ Club Dada #$
27 – Austin, Texas @ Barracuda #$
28 – Houston, Texas @ White Oak Music Hall (Upstairs) #$

October
15 – Lawrence, Kan. @ Granada %#
16 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ 7th Street Entry %#
17 – Madison, Wis. @ High Noon Saloon %#
18 – Chicago, Ill. @ Lincoln Hall %#
19 – Columbus, Ohio @ The Basement %#
21 – Detroit, Mich. @ El Club %#
22 – Toronto, Ont. @ Velvet Underground %#
23 – Montreal, Que. @ Bar Le Ritz PDB %#
25 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Elsewhere %#
26 – Cambridge, Mass. @ The Sinclair %#
27 – Burlington, Vt. @ ArtsRiot %#
29 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ The Foundry %#
30 – Washington, D.C. @ Rock & Roll Hotel %#
31 – Raleigh, N.C. @ Kings %#

November
01 – Atlanta, Ga. @ The Masquerade (Purgatory Stage) %#
02 – Nashville, Tenn. @ The High Watt %#
07 – Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow (Sky Bar)
09 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Bar Brooklyn
10 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Ideal Bar
12 – Berlin, Germany @ Kantine am Berghain
15 – Paris, France @ Supersonic
16 – Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique (Witloof Bar)
17 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Bitterzoet
19 – Brighton, U.K. @ Patterns
20 – London, U.K. @ The Garage
21 – Leeds, U.K. @ Brudenell Social Club
22 – Bristol, U.K. @ Exchange
24 – Manchester, U.K. @ YES (Pink Room)
25 – Nottingham, U.K. @ The Bodega Social Club
26 – Glasgow, U.K. @ Stereo
27 – Dublin, Ireland @ The Workmans Club

(# w/ Boy Scouts)
($ w/ Affectionately)
(% w/ Gia Margaret)