Photo Credit- Zach Pigg
The title of Molly Tuttle‘s upcoming album,…but i’d rather be with you, seems like a fairly apt one for our times. After all, after months without any live shows, both performers and audiences would surely much rather be gathered together to share the live music experience. But of course that won’t be happening for a good while still, so a new album is a pretty good compromise in the meantime.
That album, recorded entirely under quarantine, is a collection of covers from a wide rage of sources – everything from Rancid to FKA Twigs to The Grateful Dead (a lyric from the band’s “Standing On The Moon” gives the album its title). The lead single from the album is Tuttle’s version of The National’s “Fake Empire”, also a rather apt choice for our times.
The video features historical footage of past instances of protest and activism mixed in with Tuttle’s performance of the song. As she explains, “We wanted to leave the meaning of the video somewhat up to interpretation, just like the lyrics of the song. Matt Berninger commented that the song is about ‘where you can’t deal with the reality of what’s really going on, so let’s just pretend that the world’s full of bluebirds and ice skating.’ Right now a lot of people in our country are waking up to the realities of police brutality, racism, and bigotry all around us. I hope that people, like myself, who have the privilege to turn a blind eye to these injustices, can maintain this awareness and action to create a better society.”
…but i’d rather be with you is out on August 28 via Compass Records.