Philly band Empath returned with a new single, "Born 100 Times," in September, and now they've announced a new album, Visitor, due out February 11 via Fat Possum. It was inspired by the scores of Nosferatu, The Wicker Man, David Bowie's Low, and "forever favorites" Fleetwood Mac, and unlike their previous material, they recorded it in a formal studio with a producer, Jake Portrait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra. See the cover art and tracklist below.
They've also shared a new single from the album, "Diamond Eyelids." "This song was written stream of consciousness from a few pieced together memories I had,” Catherine Elicson says. "One of coming downstairs at my house one morning and unexpectedly finding a friend who lives on the other side of the country asleep on the couch, and the other memory was of when a friend used to travel from Chicago an hour and a half to the suburbs to work full time at a low paying Americorps job. Collaging memories in a way that created an emotional narrative about reaching for a fleeting moment of connection and familiarity."
"Diamond Eyelids" is accompanied by a video directed by Halle Ballard, which you can watch below. "The idea for this music video was spawned from a desire to have some kind of puppet video of us made," Catherine says. "I knew that Halle could pull that off, so she started making all of us and our instruments out of papier mache, which took a couple months. When it came to the clothes we weren’t really sure how to go about making those. I suggested maybe they just stay naked and be babies in a womb, and the whole concept of the video kind of snowballed from that. Halle had a pregnancy suit from a previous project, and we agreed it would take the video to a weird psychological level and also be funny if I were to wear it and give birth to myself and the rest of the band. A lot of Halle’s work deals with mother daughter themes so it just felt like it made sense to go that direction."
Empath are touring in 2022 with Fucked Up, and they've also announced a headlining show this year, happening on November 19 at Baby's All Right. S.C.A.B. open, and tickets are on sale now. See all of their upcoming dates below.
Empath - Visitor Tracklist
1. Genius of Evil
2. Born 100 Times
3. Diamond Eyelids
4. Passing Stranger
5. Corner of Surprise
6. House + Universe
7. Elvis Comeback Special
8. 80s
9. V
10. Bell
11. Paradise
EMPATH: 2021-2022 TOUR
11/19 - Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right
1/19 - Ottawa, CA @ Club SAW ~
1/20 - Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz ~
1/21 - Boston, MA @ The Sinclair ~
1/22 - New York, NY @ Brooklyn Made ~
1/23 - Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts ~
1/24 - Washington, DC @ Union Stage ~
1/25 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls ~
1/26 - Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups ~
1/28 - Detroit, MI @ Shelter ~
