In 2022, Tess Parks released her second solo album, And Those Who Were Seen Dancing, following collaborative LPs with the Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe. Today, the London-based singer-songwriter is announcing its follow-up, Pomegranate, and unveiling the breezy lead single “Koalas.”

Pomegranate is co-mixed by Ruari Meehan and Mikko Gordon (The Smile, Gaz Coombes, Arcade Fire). “In November 2020, Ruari was in London and I was in Toronto and he sent me the music for ‘Koalas,’” Parks said. She continued:

At this point, we hadn’t seen each other in over a year. It would be another year before we saw each other again. I was suffering from severe PTSD at this point in my life, and to be honest, I couldn’t bring myself to listen to the song properly until early February. When I finally did — it was one of those moments when you hear a song and you know it’s going to be one of your favorite, most cherished songs for your whole life. It’s the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard.

Ruari sending me this song instigated the making of this album — a daily back and forth correspondence where he would send me music and I would sing some words over it and then he would sing other ideas back to me. It was a true lifeline at what felt like the end of the world. I don’t know who I would be without these songs, this song particularly, and waking up everyday looking forward to what he was going to send me next.

“Koalas” also has whistling from Molly Lewis. Check out the Benjamin Wearing-directed music video for the track below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Bagpipe Blues”
02 “California’s Dreaming”
03 “Koalas”
04 “Lemon Poppy”
05 “Charlie Potato”
06 “Crown Shy”
07 “Running Home To Sing”
08 “Sunnyside”
09 “Surround”

Pomegranate is out 10/25 on Fuzz Club/Hand Drawn Dracula.