Tess Parks has announced her third LP, Pomegranate. The follow-up to 2022’s And Those Who Were Seen Dancing comes out October 25 on Fuzz Club. Check out the new single ‘Koalas’ below, and scroll down for the album artwork and tracklist.
Written and recorded between London, Toronto, and Los Angeles, Pomegranate was made with close collaborator Ruari Meehan, who took on production duties and co-mixed the album with Grammy-nominated engineer Mikko Gordon.
“In November 2020, Ruari was in London and I was in Toronto and he sent me the music for ‘Koalas’,” Parks explained in a press release. “At this point, we hadn’t seen each other in over a year. It would be another year before we saw each other again. I was suffering from severe PTSD at this point in my life, and to be honest, I couldn’t bring myself to listen to the song properly until early February. When I finally did – it was one of those moments when you hear a song and you know it’s going to be one of your favourite, most cherished songs for your whole life. It’s the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard.”
She added: “Ruari sending me this song instigated the making of this album – a daily back and forth correspondence where he would send me music and I would sing some words over it and then he would sing other ideas back to me. It was a true lifeline at what felt like the end of the world. I don’t know who I would be without these songs, this song particularly, and waking up everyday looking forward to what he was going to send me next.”
Discussing the album, Parks said:
Look – there’s so much tragedy happening in the world right now. It’s so easy to feel helpless. It feels self-indulgent to be someone singing at all from their own perspective. But if anything, this album is a gift of love, our contribution to the world of something beautiful that we made amongst so much pain. It’s our message of empowerment to keep going even when life feels unliveable and unjust – having faith that this moment will pass if you can find a way to just breathe into the next moment. Believing that the future could possibly be really bright… knowing that sharing your light really does have a butterfly effect, even in a small way within your community and your family and friends, you are capable of making a greater impact than you understand.
I went through a long period of feeling like I never wanted to make music again. What is the point of singing? Everything is pointless. I was taking refuge making paintings, sitting in silence for hours. There was a lot of processing to do. I am so grateful that I was given the encouragement to continue creating with sound, and that’s what Ruari has done for me. It seems only right to give back that encouragement to others.
Pomegranate Cover Artwork:
Pomegranate Tracklist:
1. Bagpipe Blues
2. California’s Dreaming
3. Koalas
4. Lemon Poppy
5. Charlie Potato
6. Crown Shy
7. Running Home To Sing
8. Sunnyside
9. Surround
