Juanita Stein to release 4th solo album ‘The Weightless Hour’
The announcement is accompanied by the release of lead single ‘Mother Natures Scorn’.
Photo: Giovanna Ferin
The Howling Bells frontwoman is back with her fourth solo album, The Weightless Hour, set for release on November 29th via Agricultural Audio. Juanita Stein has united once more with producer Ben Hillier (Depeche Mode, Blur, Elbow) to gift us listeners a project which is born straight from the core of unfiltered spirit. It’s what I would label as courageous minimalism — for Stein unveils that a backing band need not support her edgy but pleasantly evocative sound.
When asked about the making of the record, Stein remarked: “I think making records is a really powerful way of letting go of experiences. I’m allowing myself to kiss things goodbye.” Each of her releases feels not just like the start of a new melodic chapter, but a fresh and maturing outlook on the intersecting phases of her life. After the earnestness of her third studio album, Snapshot (2020), which was driven by hazy snippets of grief following the loss of her father, The Weightless Hour is a cathartic exhale of all she has endured and an apprehensive sigh about all there is to come. Stein has created a sonic space which is untroubled and self-controlled, achieved by the choice of purely stripped-back instrumentation. With no drums and very little accompaniments beyond the guitar, her magnetic voice has room to ebb and flow.
Don’t wait to get a taste of what the LP has to offer, as the first single Mother Natures Scorn has already been released, alongside a dreamy video directed by Orlando Cubitt. We are privy to nostalgic close-ups of tranquil wheat fields and all the beauty our eco-mother has to offer, captured through calmingly slowed shots and vintage lenses – what more could you want? The lyrics, however, hold a deeper meaning. Stein clarifies: “It’s about recognising that we are in a moment approaching irreversibility. I’m acknowledging the limitlessness of Mother Nature.” Stein calls attention to our environment’s shortcomings, whilst reminding us that we are all intensely vulnerable in life, death, and song. If this gives us any idea of what the rest of the album might entail, it certainly won’t be one to miss.
The Weightless Hour is out via Agricultural Audio on November 29th.