Speedy Ortiz Announce New Album Twerp Verse, Share Slimy “Lucky 88” Video

Speedy Ortiz have announced their first release in two years, and their first proper full-length since 2015’s Foil Deer. Twerp Verse is out on April 27 via Carpark, and in tandem with their new album’s announcement, Sadie Dupuis and company have also shared the video for synthy and sardonic lead single “Lucky 88,” in which Dupuis declares, “I don’t care anymore.”

Dupuis explained the clever, colorful and ultimately optimistic video’s conception in a statement:

For the video, we wanted something evil, glossy, cynical, and camp. Our director Emily Yoshida came up with a concept that addresses our reliance on technology and apps that’s so absorbing, it’s hard to engage with the outside world, even when it is literally being consumed by slime (and, hello, global warming, melting ice, coral bleaching, impending heat death, make no mistake, it IS being consumed by slime).

Soon after Speedy Ortiz assembled in Brooklyn in the fall of 2016 and recorded what they thought was their third album, Election Day happened, and the band knew they had to scrap what they had done, shifting their focus from the personal to the political. “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,” Dupuis recalls. “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.” Four months and many new songs later, the result was Twerp Verse, which a press release describes as a “urgent, taught and pointedly witty” album that’s “tuned smartly to the political opacity of the present.” The album’s consonant title, too, is a nod to the importance of speaking out: “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,” Dupuis explains. “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.”

Speedy Ortiz will tour North America throughout most of May and June in support of their new album, following performances at SXSW and Lansing, Mich.’s Stoopfest in March and April, respectively. The band, made up of Dupuis on guitars, vocals and synths, Darl Ferm on bass and Mike Falcone on drums, is now joined by supporting guitarist Andy Molholt (of psych-pop act Laser Background). You’ll find the band’s tour dates below and ticket info here.

Watch the “Lucky 88” video and listen to Speedy Ortiz’s 2014 Daytrotter Session below. Further down, find the Twerp Verse tracklist and album art (done by Dupuis herself), along with the band’s tour dates. You can preorder Twerp Verse via DSPs, the band’s store or their label.

Twerp Verse Tracklist:
01. Buck Me Off
02. Lean In When I Suffer
03. Lucky 88
04. Can I Kiss You?
05. Backslidin’
06. Villain
07. I’m Blessed
08. Sport Death
09. Alone with Girls
10. Moving In
11. You Hate The Title

Twerp Verse Album Art:

Speedy Ortiz Tour Dates:

March
13-16 – Austin, Texas @ SXSW

April
21 – Lansing, Mich. @ Stoopfest

May
03 – Hamden, Conn. @ Space Ballroom
05 – Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat
07 – Norfolk, Va. @ Charlie’s American Cafe
08 – Durham, N.C. @ The Pinhook
09 – Atlanta, Ga. @ The Masquerade – Purgatory
10 – Nashville, Tenn. @The High Watt
12 – Chicago, Ill. @ Subterranean
13 – Detroit, Mich. @ El Club
14 – Toronto, Ontario @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
15 – Montreal, Quebec @ La Vitrola
17 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
29 – Lakewood, Ohio @ Mahall’s
30 – Louisville, Ky. @ Zanzabar

June
01 – Little Rock, Ark. @ Stickyz Rock’n’Roll Chicken Shack
02 – Austin, Texas @ Barracuda
03 – Dallas, Texas @ Club Dada
05 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ Rebel Lounge
06 – San Diego, Calif. @ Soda Bar
07 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Echo
09 – Oakland, Calif. @ Starline Social Club
10 – San Francisco, Calif. @ Cafe Du Nord
12 – Portland, Ore. @ Doug Fir Lounge
13 – Seattle, Wash. @ The Vera Project
14 – Boise, Idaho @ Neurolux
16 – Denver, Colo. @ Larimer Lounge
17 – Omaha, Neb. @ Reverb
19 – St. Louis, Mo. @ Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room
20 – Indianapolis, Ind. @ The Hi-Fi