If you count last year’s rarities collection as an exception, it’s been three years since Katie Dey, the Melbourne-based digital-pop auteur, issued her previous album, never falter hero girl. That drought is about to end. In just four weeks, Dey will unveil her new LP universal will. Details about the project are thin on Bandcamp, Instagram, or her official site, but the opening track “for you” is out now, and it’s a knockout.
The track hits with more heft than Dey’s earlier material, kicking off with heavy drums and electric guitars, and it expands into something near epic, morphing through more than five minutes. Yet a clear throughline to her past work remains, especially in the lyrics, which stitch together vivid, sometimes unsettling imagery. I’m partial to the line “not a person just a bundle of data points.”
Listen below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “for you”
02 “shadow self”
03 “masterplan”
04 “fearless zone”
05 “emerging from debris”
06 “vacant lot / home”
07 “last night of the world”
08 “angel in the server room”
09 “unfathomable you / catherine wheel”
10 “universal will”
universal will is out 11/6. Pre-order it here.