The OpheliasannounceSpring Grove, their new record and first albumJulien Baker has produced for another artist, outApril 4th via theirnew label Get Better Records. In conjunction, they present a cinematic video for lead single “Cumulonimbus” and share dates for aheadlining North American tour. While writing Spring Grove, old ghosts were popping up from vocalist/guitarist Spencer Peppet's past. She heard from people she hadn’t heard from in years, reached out to people she didn’t talk to anymore, and found herself dreaming vividly of ex-lovers, ex-friends, co-workers and acquaintances. Spring Grove is a luminous document of facing the visages that haunt us, whether those of others or our own. Across thirteen tracks that alternately rage and soothe, the album picks at the nuanced textures of relationships and the multifaceted nature of personhood, smashing through the infinite refractions of the self to find clarity and new perspectives. “There’s so much more beyond heartbreak to write about,” Peppet says, emphasizing that there are “zero songs about break-ups” on the album.
The Ophelias - made of Spencer Peppet(she/her),Mic Adams (drums, he/him),Andrea Gutmann Fuentes (violin, she/her), and Jo Shaffer (bass, they/she) - were sitting on a mountain of archival material in 2020–quarantined between their respective homes and unable to tour their latest album, 2021’sCrocus–when they got a fateful call: Julien Baker wanted to produce their next album. Baker had collaborated with The Ophelias before, but this was the first time the Grammy-winning songwriter was taking on the role of producer for an album by another artist. Baker and the band spent ten days tracking at Young Avenue Sound in Memphis, TN, in 2021. The idea with Spring Grove was to distill and pare the process down to the four members, in addition to Baker (who sings harmonies and plays on a number of tracks) and engineer/mixer Calvin Lauber.
There are tracks that confidently wield indie rock swagger, while others shimmer with synth and spectral piano. These dynamics lead to a sound that the band refers to as “movie music,” inspired in part by Shaffer’s experience making horror films. To create the bedrock of this visual language, Baker brought her pedalboard to the studio, dialing in Peppet’s guitar sounds to smear a wash of color across the songs. In place of lead guitar, Gutmann Fuentes’s violin became a colorful additional voice, with commanding countermelodies and call-and-response motifs that interweave with Peppet’s vocals. Shaffer, inspired by the attention to tone often found in doom metal, explored melodic lines higher up on the bass, sometimes playing multiple notes at once. This was Adams’s first album after coming out as transgender, who credits Baker with creating a safe and supportive space for him as he explored these new shades of his identity and musicality.
Lead single “Cumulonimbus,” one of the first songs written for the album, looks back at the dissolution of a relationship with compassion and regret. On the song’s gripping chorus, Peppet’s voice rings out over swelling violin and ominous drums: “I know that you are going to miss me more than you say you // Will, the things that I didn’t say are always going to// Hang above you like a cumulonimbus // I am on your heels, I’m running like it’s nothing.” The accompanying video, shot by Paige Hochstatter, captures the feelings of blue hour liminality and girlish unease. Inspired by tarot cards and residential sprawl, it moves through vignettes of a suburban Midwestern gothic. It’s highly-stylized and gorgeously shot, illustrating Shaffer’s experience with film.
While The Ophelias began as an “all-girl” band, they have since shed the reductive mantle of that label. With one queer and two trans members, these four individuals have collectively explored a vast terrain of womanhood, dancing around the center of that identity and what it means to move through the world under–or out from under–its banner. To that end, the songs onSpring Grove are primed to tackle a wide array of relationship dynamics, emotional negotiations, and power imbalances. There’s a simultaneous intensity and delicacy in its dynamics, and it’s a marked evolution in The Ophelias’ sound and storytelling.
The Ophelias will tour across the east coast and midwest this spring. A full list of dates can be found below.
Spring Grove Tracklist
1. Open Sky
2. Spring Grove
3. Cumulonimbus
4. Vulture Tree
5. Salome
6. Parade
7. Cicada
8. Forcefed
9. Crow
10. Gardenia
11. Sharpshooter
12. Say to You
13. Shapes
The Ophelias Tour Dates
Fri. April 4 - Philadelphia, PA @ MilkBoy
Sat. April 5 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Broadway - record release show
Sun. April 6 - Vienna, VA @ Jammin’ Java
Tue. April 8 - Boston, MA @ The Rockwell
Wed. April 9 - Portsmouth, NH @ Press Room
Thu. May 8 - Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s
Fri. May 9 - Columbus, OH @ Rumba Café
Sat. May 10 - Lansing, MI @ Stoopfest
Sun. May 11 - Toronto, ON @ The Baby G
Tue. May 13 - Montréal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
Wed. May 14 - Burlington, VT @ Radio Bean
