Today, Nashville-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Conner Youngblood announced his much-anticipated new album: "Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly," out Sept. 6 via Missing Piece Records.
This record marks Youngblood's first full-length release in six years and comprises a dreamy series of introspections steeped in desire and yearning; loneliness and loss; exhilaration and escape.
Alongside the announcement arrives the artist's new advanced single off the album: "Blue Gatorade," an almost transcendental seven-minute experience that explores the dichotomy between giving and getting.
The new song, which juxtaposes bone-dry vocals against a reverb-drenched music bed, is accompanied by the release of its official music video that features visuals akin to that of the movie "Inception;" a kind of visual-within-a-visual motif.
More About 'Blue Gatorade' and 'Cascades Cascading Cascadingly'
Consistent with the rest of the tracks in the upcoming album, the inspiration for "Blue Gatorade" came from a visual source. In this case, as per Youngblood, the idea struck him while watching tennis.
So I was sitting there watching Sofia Kenin in the French Open and I'm trying to formulate a song around this riff and line, 'Heaven knows who will love me,'" he recalled.
"I somehow connect the ideas of overexertion in the pursuit of love/sports, sweat, sweat getting in your eyes, clouded vision, and finally, this moment of solitude and reflection while drinking a sports drink in between sets (metaphorically speaking, but in Sofia's case quite literally)," the artist continued.
Regarding the title, Youngblood quipped: "I don't think she was actually drinking 'Blue Gatorade,' I think it was red, and in an officially sponsored Evian bottle, but I don't like the red flavor."
The song follows the indie-electropop artist's horror film-inspired and eerie sound production-soaked "All They Want Is Violence," also included in his forthcoming album that he recorded in his Nashville bedroom.
"Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly" is a thematically atmospheric and avant-garde approach to musical narrative and production. In this record, Youngblood blurs the lines between fact and fiction by incorporating magical realism.
This project is an extension of the artist's established sonic identity, something Pitchfork described in its review of his "Cheyenne" album as "ambient, intimate... songs that blossom gently with intricate musical details and enigmatic lyrics."
You can now pre-save Youngblood's "Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly" by clicking here.
You can also stream his new single: "Blue Gatorade" here and watch its official music video right below.
