Today, Erika de Casier shares a new single and video from her highly-anticipated third album Still, out on 21 February via 4AD. ‘ice’ featuring Tampa rap duo They Hate Change marks the first collaboration in de Casier’s discography, and what a marvellous first showing. For the three-minute cut de Casier moonlights as the duo’s third member, flipping a classic hip-hop trope (“Ice – you put it all on me,” she sings) into a comment on a frustratingly noncommittal person. The song follows previously-released single ‘Lucky’ and arrives with a video directed by Erika herself.
In addition to the single, de Casier is also announcing North American and European tours that’ll bring Still to some of her biggest venues yet. Beginning on 26 March in Montreal, she’ll play nine shows across North America before heading to the desert to play both weekends of Coachella in April. In May, Erika returns to Europe for a run of shows, concluding with a headline show at KOKO, London on 29 May. The full list of tour dates can be found below. General on-sale begins this Friday 9 February at 10AM local time and a Spotify presale will take place the day before, 8 February, between 10AM and 11:59PM local time. Further information and tickets can be found here.
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As ever, Still proves that de Casier is a master of writing songs that speak to universal experiences of modern life, even for all their specificities and quirks. If Essentials (2019) was filled with perfect songs about flirtation and new love, and Sensational (2021) added wrinkles in the form of partners who were rude and plainly annoying, Still sees de Casier writing about genuine heartbreak with a new clarity. For all the new heaviness that arises on Still – and the subtle political valence that comes alongside – de Casier’s music remains as fun and sensual as it’s always been. Still confirms that there are few artists making music that so freely slips between sensitivity and irreverence, sex and sadness. Among all the success, the accolades, the acclaim, her greatest achievement may be, simply: she’s still Erika de Casier.
All of this is to say the album is classic de Casier, her idiosyncratic mix of luxuriant electronica and moonlit R&B drilled further into that one-of-a-kind sound here. Her songwriting is as masterful and universal as ever, and her proficiency as a producer heightened as she produces other voices (They Hate Change, Shygirl, Blood Orange) for the first time. She also invites new collaborators, working with live musicians in addition to samples. N, co-producer of Essentials and Sensational, returns here, but added to the fold are Jonathan Jull Ludvigsen, Carl Emil Johansen, Niels Kirk, Christian Rhode Lindinger, Nick León, Kirsten Nyhus Janssen and Tobias Sachse, adding live drums, synths, guitar, bass and more. These musicians, as well as de Casier’s chorus of friends who sing and rap on the record, add a jolt and crackle to her world; where those first two records felt like dispatches straight from the recesses of de Casier’s brain – intimate thoughts slinking through the ether at 2am – Still feels like a conversation between friends in the backroom of a crowded bar. Those friends embolden de Casier to deliver some of her most emphatic songs ever, put on display brilliantly on ‘Lucky,’ her first offering from the album out today.
Erika de Casier – Still
4AD0639
1. Right This Way
2. Home Alone
3. Lucky
4. The Princess
5. ice (ft. They Hate Change)
6. Test It
7. ooh
8. Believe It
9. Anxious
10. Ex-Girlfriend (ft. Shygirl)
11. Toxic
12. My Day Off
13. Twice (ft. Blood Orange)
14. Someone
UPCOMING TOUR DATES
March
26th – Theatre Fiarmont, Montreal QC, Can
27th – Velvet Underground, Toronto ON, Can
29th – The Foundry, Philadelphia PA, US
30th – Warsaw, Brooklyn NY, US
31st – The Atlantis, Washington DC, US
April
3rd – Lincoln Hall, Chicago IL, US
5th – Madame Lou’s, Seattle WA, US
6th – Polaris Hall, Portland OR, US
9th – The Independent, San Fransico CA, US
13th – Coachella, Indio CA, US
20th – Coachella, Indio CA, US
May
4th – Melkweg (Oude Zaal), Amsterdam, Netherlands
5th – Orangerie (Les Nuits 2024), Brussels, Belgium
8th – Vega, Copenhagen, Denmark
22nd – Hole 44, Berlin, Germany
23rd – La Gaité Lyrique, Paris, France
29th – Koko, London, UK