A month ago, Alexandra Levy, returned with her first Ada Lea song of 2021, a vulnerable ballad called “hurt.” It turns out that single was a hint of more to come. Today, Levy’s announced a new album called one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden. It’s out on Saddle Creek at the end of September.

Along with the announcement, Levy’s shared a new song called “damn.” When she released “hurt,” she’d said one of her goals was to “find a way to communicate complicated feelings using the simplest language possible.” This new single does that as well, painting a picture of a year that’s getting worse and worse.

Sonically weightless and vibrant, the track is an indie pop paradise that slowly gets more complicated with each word that Levy sings: “Every year is just a little bit darker/ Then the darker gets darker/ Then it’s dark as hell.” By the end it turns into a shit list, in which Levy untangles her frustrations yet still sounds absolutely enchanting while doing so: “Damn the work, damn the music/ Damn the fun that’s missing.”

Listen to “damn.” and check out the album tracklist below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “damn”
02 “can’t stop me from dying”
03 “oranges”
04 “partner”
05 “saltspring”
06 “and my newness spoke to your newness and it was a thing of endless”
07 “my love 4 u is real”
08 “backyard”
09 “writer in ny”
10 “violence”
11 “hurt”

one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is out 9/24 via Saddle Creek.