Meg Remy’s experimental-pop project U.S. Girls is back with their first proper new release since Polaris Prize-shortlisted 2020’s Heavy Light. Standalone track “So Typically Now” is out now alongside a self-directed video.
A synth-pop stomper built on staccato keys and a hammering four-on-the-floor beat, “So Typically Now” has the 2020s’ topsy-turvy housing market on its mind. The Illinois-born, Toronto-based Remy takes New York City as the song’s setting, declaring, “Brooklyns dead / And Kingstons booming / Ripping out my roots / What the hell am I doing?” Remy’s rapid vocal cadence reinforces that disorienting urban churn, but she doesn’t lose sight of who’s profiting from all the upheaval: “Traitors with loans, they run this show / So you sold off your condo.” Backing vocalist Kyle Kidd underscores the choruses and steps into the spotlight during the track’s breakdown, carrying it through its invigorating crescendo.
Prior to this new tune, we had last heard from U.S. Girls in November 2020 when they shared “Santa Stay Home,” an anti-Christmas song Remy co-wrote with Rich Morel. That year’s Heavy Light was the band’s third consecutive Polaris Prize-shortlisted, Juno-nominated (for Best Alternative Album) LP released by 4AD, following 2015’s Half Free and 2018’s In a Poem Unlimited.
Last year, Remy made her debut as an author with memoir Begin by Telling, a series of illustrated lyric essays published by Book*hug Press.
Watch the “So Typically Now” video below, in which Remy shares her music (and message) with a group of frazzled NYC construction workers.