Meg Lui has has announced her debut album, Instant Validation, which was produced by Sufjan Stevens. It’s set for release on September 25 via Asthmatic Kitty Records. It’s led by Elvis Queen’, a driving, poignant tune that features Stevens as well as Liam Kazar on backing vocals. Check out a video for it below.
Having contributed background vocals on Stevens’ Javelin and John Legend’s My Favorite Dream, Lui began workomg on the album in the fall of 2024. “I think my songs tend to sound like I’m giving advice, but most of the time I’m actually talking to myself and trying to work through my problems,” she explained. “A lot of these songs came from feeling like I’m perpetually stuck and wasn’t growing as a person, and when I listened back I realized so many of the lyrics are about finding the courage to go ahead and live my life and not wait for this industry, which has been hard to find a footing in. To not wait on permission to make art – or try to make it fit into a perfect package and let it live and breathe as it is.”
“With Sufjan there was so much more out-of-the-box thinking, and we ended up adding layers upon layers that created an unrestrained soundscape for the record,” Lui added.
Instant Validation Cover Artwork:
Instant Validation Tracklist:
1. Gone Girl
2. Elvis Queen
3. Roadkill
4. Dreams
5. Are You Out There (crimson & clover)
6. Instant Validation
7. Miss Queen Know It All
8. Andromeda
9. Monumental
10. Time Thief
11. Formation (of me)
12. Bluebird
