One month from today, the Toronto art-pop singer and composer Lydia Ainsworth will release her new album Sparkles & Debris. On the album, Ainsworth works, for the first time, with the traditional guitar/bass/drums setup, as well as with the electronics that she’s been using since her career began. Ainsworth has already shared the album’s title track and “Parade,” and today, she’s also dropped a new joint called “Cake.”

“Cake” is almost certainly the best of the early Sparkles & Debris singles. It’s structured as a folky ballad, and it would be very pretty if it was a soft acoustic song. Instead, Ainsworth builds it through dreamy synth-bloops and sudden, crashing chords, and she absolutely sings the hell out of it. Ainsworth shot the song’s video in pre-pandemic Tokyo with director Takeshi Suga, and it tells the story of Ainsworth meeting a mysterious black-robed, metal-faced character, finding a connection. It’s a great video for a great song.

On “Cake,” Ainsworth says:

I was exclusively listening to Townes Van Zandt while on tour for my last album. I began to imagine what it would feel like to be in the shoes of the various women he’s often singing about. In particular his song “Loretta,” which is one of my favorite songs of all time. I kept thinking about Loretta, feeling a kinship with her as well. I was inspired by his piercing lyric, “She don’t cry when I can’t stay, ‘least not till she’s all alone.” “Cake” is a song I wrote from Loretta’s perspective.

Here’s the video:

Sparkles & Debris is out 5/21 on Zombie Cat Records. Pre-order it here.