Back in the summer of 2017, Sophie Payten released Reservoir, her debut album as Gordi. Since then, she’s collaborated with a handful of other artists and spent time finishing her medical degree. (I don’t have these statistics on hand, exactly, but she’s gotta be one of the only Artists To Watch who also went and became a doctor amidst releasing her debut album.) Most recently, we heard from her when she unveiled a new song called “The Cost,” a track released to benefit bushfire relief funds in her native Australia.

Now, ahead of a forthcoming North American tour, Gordi is back with another new one. Her latest is called “Sandwiches,” and it’s inspired by the loss of her grandmother. In a press release, Payten described her grandmother as a “great feeder of people,” and the song’s title comes from a scene in which Payten and her mother took that role upon themselves when her grandmother was in her hospital bed; they were passing around sandwiches when they were informed her grandmother had passed.

Memories are woven into the song, from the snapshots Gordi includes in the lyrics — singing emotionally over an autumnal, guitar-driven arrangement — to the very recording of it. For the latter, Payten teamed once more with Chris Messina and Zach Hanson, gathering at her family home in Canowindra, using old instruments she’d collected there along with a couple things they managed to bring over from their own home base in Eau Claire. The accompanying video was shot around Canowindra as well. Check it out below.

TOUR DATES:

02/26 – Brussels, BE @ Forest National ^
02/27 – Amsterdam, NL @ AFAS Live ^
04/29 – Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater *
05/05 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE *
05/06 – Detroit, MI @ Fillmore *
05/12 – Kansas City, MO @ Midland Theatre *
05/13 – Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom *
05/14 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live Moody Theatre *
05/17 – Guadalajara, MX @ Corona Capital Festival
05/19 – Mexico City, MX @ El Plaza Condessa *
05/22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery *
05/27 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall Lawn *
05/29 – St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheater *
05/31 – Miami, FL @ Fillmore Miami *
06/02 – North Charleston, SC @ North Charleston PAC *
06/04 – Harrisburg, PA @ Riverfront Park Harrisburg University *
06/05 – Cooperstown, NY @ Brewery Ommegang *

^ with Bear’s Den
* with Of Monsters And Men

CREDIT: Jess Gleeson

“Sandwiches” is out now.