Helena Deland shares the dark dream pop of new single 'Pale' from upcoming debut album 'Someone New' & announces Bandcamp album launch livestream performance 19th October.
Today Montreal’s emerging singer-songwriter Helena Deland shares the dark dream pop of 'Pale', the latest and fourth single from 'Someone New', the long-awaited debut album due out 16th October on Luminelle Recordings. The syncopated 'Pale' single casts its gaze on interpersonal matters through a corporeal lens, guided by mercurial rhythmic changes and a low-key, funky synth hook.
"'Pale' is about the little space left to the actual self in romantic relationships where idealization comes into play.”
says Deland.
The single is accompanied by a dramatic visualizer, about which Helena shares:
“The stream in the visualizer represents the question of control when control is ultimately impossible.”
Helena will celebrate the release of 'Someone New' with a livestreamed performance from home exclusively for Bandcamp just following the release on Monday 19th October, at 6pm EST. Get tickets here.
Deland’s debut album 'Someone New' is an exploration of gender, power, time and the “self” that finds Deland in full control of her sound and style, even as she asks whether control is ever possible. The album was written and recorded over a period of two years, beginning with Deland’s guitar and expanding into a lavish sonic sphere that blends elements of synth pop and classic folk. Deland’s voice ties it all together, sometimes hushed in a whisper, sometimes shrouded in distortion, and sometimes full and clear – but always inviting the listener into her world. The album recording process was a gradual, slow and deliberate one. Following the release of 'Altogether Unaccompanied Vol III and IV' in late 2018, 'Someone New' was initially written by Deland on her own at home in her bedroom in Montréal. When she was ready to emerge from the solitary part of the work, she brought the songs to long-time friend Valentin Ignat to flesh out the arrangements. They recorded at a Montréal studio with her band before Deland took the album to New York for additional production and mixing with friend and collaborator Gabe Wax (Soccer Mommy, War On Drugs, Adrianne Lenker).
'Someone New' was announced in August with the “lush title track” as a single accompanied by a video directed by Xavier Bélanger-Dorval that features Deland sitting for a portrait (that would result in the album’s cover artwork), capturing the discomfort of needing to keep still while being scrutinized and on display. 'Someone New' is a song that as Deland puts it, “ambivalently celebrates and condemns the idea of being in one’s ‘prime’, as it is so rare that youth and self-understanding are simultaneous.”
Understated and grand, grave but upbeat, 'Someone New' is the thesis of the record, and upon its release caught the attention of Billboard, who named it one of their “10 Cool New Pop Songs To Get You Through The Week.” September marked the release of third single, 'Truth Nugget', a lush mid-tempo track that builds around a prominent, sliding groove, accompanied by a visualizer directed by Félix Marquis-Poulin that perfectly captures the song’s dreamy magic. July’s hypnotic single 'Lylz' premiered with an accompanying artful time lapse video. The song was praised by critics, named it one of the top songs of the week in different International music media channels.
'Lylz' was recorded with Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Jake Portrait and marked Deland's first release since her 2018 series of beloved EPs entitled 'Altogether Unaccompanied'. The two-year period that followed involved considerable touring, with stints supporting supporting Weyes Blood, Stella Donnelly and Connan Mockasin among others, along with a notable set opening for Iggy Pop in Paris for La Blogothèque and ARTE, and a collaboration with JPEGMAFIA on 'Free The Frail' from his 2019 album 'All My Heroes Are Cornballs'.
Helena Deland - Pale (Single)