Charlotte Cornfield has released a new single called ‘Gentle Like the Drugs’. It’s taken from her forthcoming album Could Have Done Anything, which arrives this Friday, May 12 on Polyvinyl/Double Double Whammy. Check out the song’s Ali Vanderkruyk-directed video below.
“I wrote this song after a particularly special and memorable tour opening for Pedro the Lion in the west of the US,” Cornfield explained in a press release. “Something strong clicked on that tour, and I was experiencing joy on the road in a way I really hadn’t before, feeling fully present and just revelling in the company of my bandmates and taking in the spectacular landscape in a way that felt like a deep breath.” Cornfield says, “I had never really been to the desert before, to Southern Utah and Arizona, and I was very moved by it. This is a drifting summer song to me, about letting grief and anxiety go and feeling light and buzzed and in love and joyful.”
Ali Vanderkruyk commented: “The video is a 16mm travelogue following the hand of a wanderer writing postcards to a loved one back home. Each vignette acts as vessel for the lyrics for the song, acknowledging the beauty of home while observing the unfamiliar. We see the kitsch in chosen images for a postcard, as well as the ways one can personalize an object that is available to the masses.”
Could Have Done Anything is the follow-up to Cornfield’s 2019 effort Highs in the Minuses. Check out our inspirations interview with Charlotte Cornfield.