Anna Burch will return with her sophomore album If You’re Dreaming, which will see its release via Polyvinyl Records on April 3rd.
Our first taste of the new record comes with single “Not So Bad.” It’s a lovely offering that has a ton of smart layers that are not immediate at first but work their way to the surface every second that the song goes on. It’s a mature step forward for the songwriter, who already proved to be quite the talent on her first go-around.
The album was tracked with producer Sam Evian in his home studio in the Catskill mountains of upstate New York where the two worked with “self-imposed time limitations to establish a sharper focus and get to the core of the new songs.”
Burch details below how the song came to be:
I wrote Not So Bad the day before I left to record, because I felt there was an important piece of the album missing—a hopeful, escapist pop song that dealt more positively with themes the other songs were circling around—and luckily it came together almost immediately. The chord progression felt light and jazzy, and when I started to write the words I remembered my mom bugging me about how melancholic my lyrics tend to be, “Surely your life hasn’t all been that bad!”
I wanted to express the importance of cultivating a rich interior life that falls outside of the economy of images and information we’re disseminating at all times. Not So Bad is an optimistic love song about retreating into memories to find what you need to feel in control of your own narrative when everything else around you feels precarious.
You can find the music video for “Not So Bad” below, along with the album art, tracklisting and some upcoming tour dates.
- If You’re Dreaming Tracklisting:
1. Can’t Sleep
2. Party’s Over
3. Jacket
4. So I Can See
5. Ask Me To
6. Keep It Warm
7. Go It Alone
8. Tell Me What’s True
9. Not So Bad
10. Picture Show
11. Every Feeling
12. Here With You
Anna Burch Tour Dates:
03/14 – Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR Pub
03/15 – St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill
03/16 – Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge
03/17-20 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
03/22 – Norman, OK @ Opolis
03/24 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
04/03 – Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory #
04/04 – Toronto, ON @ The Baby G #
04/05 – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo #
04/07 – Boston, MA @ Great Scott #
04/08 – Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle #
04/10 – New York, NY @ The Dance #
04/11 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd #
04/13 – Atlanta, GA @ 529 Club #
04/14 – Nashville, TN @ DRKMTTR #
04/15 – Columbia, MO @ Cafe Berlin #
04/16 – Lawrence, KS @ White Schoolhouse #
04/17 – Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge #
04/18 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive #
04/20 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah #
04/21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Bar #
04/22 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill #
04/24 – Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern #
04/25 – Portland, OR @ Bunk Bar #
04/26 – Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall #
04/30 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry #
05/01 – Madison, WI @ UW Madison – Terrace #
05/02 – Milwaukee, WI @ Company Brewing #
05/03 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village #
05/06 – Bristol, UK @ The Louisiana
05/07 – Manchester, UK @ YES
05/08 – Dublin, Ireland @ The Sound House
05/09 – Belfast, UK @ Cathedral Quarter Festival
05/10 – Glasgow, UK @ The Hug & Pint
05/12 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
05/13 – London, UK @ Oslo
05/15 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso – Upstairs
05/16 – Paris, France @ Le Pop-Up du Label
05/17 – Groningen, Netherlands @ Vera
05/18 – Leffinge, Belgium @ De Zwerver
05/19 – Düsseldorf, Germany @ Kassette
05/20 – Hamburg, Germany @ Turmzimmer
05/21 – Berlin, Germany @ Privatclub
05/22 – Munich, Germany @ Heppel & Ettlich
05/23 – Freiburg, Germany @ Swamp
# w/ Long Beard
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