Album Art Photo by Marc Baptiste // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
On May 21, Allison Russell will release her first ever solo project, the highly anticipated Outside Child (produced by Dan Knobler) on Fantasy Records. Today, she shares an ode to her hometown in her new track, “Montreal” from the forthcoming debut.
“In this track, I give thanks for my wondrous hometown of Montreal,” says Russell. “I was a teenage runaway - I believe in many ways the City herself protected me. I wandered the Mountain at all hours and slept in the graveyard in the summertime. I haunted the Cathedrals and slept in the pews. Sometimes I stayed up all night playing chess with the old men in the 24 hour cafes. I got to hear Oscar Peterson play for free in the park during Jazz Fest… I was very lucky to grow up there.”
Today, Russell also announces a live concert release day event to stream via Bandcamp on Friday, May 21. The event will feature Russell and her band playing songs from the new album for the first time in the live setting. The stream will take place at 9 PM ET / 8 PM CT. Tickets are on sale today HERE. Proceeds will benefit The National Bail Out #FreeBlackMamas initiative. The National Bail Out Collective is a Black-led collective of abolitionist organizers, lawyers and activists building a community based movement to end systems of pretrial detention and ultimately mass incarceration. For more information visit: https://www.nationalbailout.org/
The poet, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, activist and co-founder of Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago, unpacks her youth in searing detail throughout Outside Child. “Montreal,” follows the previously released tracks “Persephone'' and “Nightflyer” which Russell has released in the last few months.
Born and raised in Montreal, Russell imbues her music with the colors of her city - the light, the landscape, the language - but also the trauma that she suffered there. It is a heartbreaking reflection on a childhood no one should have to endure, and at the same time a powerful and warm statement of hope - asserted from a place of healing, of motherhood, of partnership - and from a new home made in Nashville. The record features contributions from many of the artistic family members she has found there including producer Dan Knobler, Erin Rae, Jamie Dick, Joe Pisapia, The McCrary Sisters, Ruth Moody, Yola, and her partner JT Nero.
“It was just about making these songs live and breathe in the most honest way,” Russell says. “We were laughing, we were crying. And the communion between musicians, I hope people can hear that on the record. It felt like magic.”
Outside Child, Russell added, “is about resilience, survival, transcendence, the redemptive power of art, community, connection, and chosen family.” The album is both a radical reclamation of a traumatic childhood and lost home, and a lantern light for survivors of all stripes - a fervent reminder of the resuscitative power of art. “Allison’s new album, Outside Child, draws water from the dark well of a violent past,” says poet and songwriter Joe Henry. “The songs themselves ––though iron-hard in their concerns–– are exultant: exercising haunted dream-like clean bedsheets snapped and hung out into broad daylight, and with the romantic poet’s lust for living and audacity of endurance.”
For special offers and exclusive merchandise, visit Allison’s official online store HERE.
PRAISE FOR ALLISON RUSSEL
"Singing a blend of elegant torch songs, ancestral ballads (in French and English), gentle country shuffles, and Al-Green inspired R&B, Russell embarks on a fresh musical beginning by dealing directly with her traumatic upbringing...Despite its heavy inspirations, ‘Outside Child’ is anything but despairing or academic." - Rolling Stone
"The lyrics to ‘Nightflyer’ are mostly a list, a poetic and far-reaching one: ‘I’m the moon’s dark side, I’m the solar flare/the child of the earth, the child of the air/I am the mother of the evening star/I am the love that conquers all.’ Allison Russell sings them over a stately blend of country and church as she summons a congregation of her own vocal harmonies, gathering strength as she promises reassurance." - The New York Times on “Nightflyer”
"Triumph glistens along poetic lyric lines as Russell uncovers unforeseen strength. Understanding this deeply rooted resilience derives from generations of strife, the artist beams with pride knowing the same strength will continue to build for her daughter and generations to come." - American Songwriter
