Fat Possum Records will release Back to Forever, the new studio album from Lissie, on September 10. Produced by Garret “Jacknife” Lee (R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Silversun Pickups), the 12-song collection is every bit as frank as 2010’s Catching A Tiger, but reflects an objectivity and depth that come only with the benefit of hindsight, after healing from the hard knocks endured at love’s hands.
Lissie and her band recorded Back to Forever late last year at The Garage in Topanga Canyon, Seahorse Sound Studios in downtown Los Angeles and Brotheryn Studios in Ojai, California. Special guests Catherine and Allison Pierce of The Pierces and Barbara Gruska (Belle Brigade) are featured on backing vocals. She will be previewing songs from Back to Forever on her upcoming tour, which kicks off this Saturday, June 15, in Norway and includes performances at the Bumbershoot Festival and Austin City Limits Festival in the U.S.
Lead single “Shameless” – which was produced by Julian Emery, who also worked with Lissie on Catching A Tiger – bluntly addresses those who let hype dictate their opinions, but ultimately emerges as an anthem for individuality. “It isn’t every day I feel like I need to have an opinion on popular culture, but that day I definitely had an opinion,” Lissie says with a laugh. “‘Shameless’ was written just as much about my insecurities and me feeling defensive as it was about making a statement against what I don’t want to be.”
“The Habit” is a soaring, searing plea to break the cycle of addiction, whether to a person, substance or anything else, and the spirited “I Don’t Wanna Got To Work” offers a refreshingly honest view of exactly where a college education will get one these days: mired in debt and stuck in a thankless job. The UK publication Clash, in a two-page feature on Lissie, calls Back to Forever “an album that evolves the country-rock aura of ‘Catching A Tiger’ into a more intrepid, LA-pop realm – think prime-era Stevie Nicks rocking a Fender and you’re halfway there.”
Lissie grew up in Rock Island, Illinois, near the Mississippi River, speaking her mind and writing songs from an early age. Her five-song EP, Why You Runnin’, produced by Bill Reynolds of Band of Horses, was ranked among the Eight Most Auspicious Musical Debuts of 2009 by Paste. Her full-length debut, Catching A Tiger, which was co-produced by Reynolds and Jacquire King (Kings of Leon), was released in 2010. Scads of festival performances (including Bonnaroo, Coachella, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury and iTunes Festival), television appearances and film/TV song placements followed. Along the way, Lissie also released a live CD/DVD of her sold-out show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush, racked up more than five million cumulative views for her live videos of songs like Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit Of Happiness” and Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” – songs that appear on her five-song 2011 EP Covered Up With Flowers – and set the wheels in motion for her own special edition Metl Mezcal.
BACK TO FOREVER TRACK LISTING
1. It’s The Habit
2. Further Away (Romance Police)
3. Shameless
4. They All Want You
5. Sleepwalking
6. I Don’t Wanna Go To Work
7. Mountain Top Removal
8. Love in the City
9. Bet on You
10. Cold Fish
11. Can’t Take It Back
12. Back to Forever
LISSIE – UPCOMING TOUR DATES
June
15 – Bergenfest – Bergen, Norway
19 – Rockefeller – Oslo, Norway
20 – Slipen Scene – Rognan, Norway
30 – Hard Rock Calling – London, UK
July
11 – Stavernfestivalen – Stavern, Norway
12 – Odderoya Live – Kristiansand, Norway
13 – Ilosaarirock Festival – Joensuu, Finland
26 – Trollrock – Norway
27 – Secret Garden Party – Cambridgeshire, UK
August
3 – Camp Bestival – UK
8 – Stars in Town – Schaffhausen, Switzerland
17 – V Festival – UK
18 – V Festival – UK
September
2 – Bumbershoot Festival – Seattle, WA
5 – Bestival – Isle of Wight, UK
October
4-6 – ACL Festival – Austin, TX
11-13 – ACL Festival – Austin, TX
