PREMIERE: Esmé Patterson's "Feel Right"

It's been a minute (or two years) since we last talked to Esmé Patterson. Back then she was touting her second solo album Woman to Woman—a collection of "fan-fiction response songs" to tunes like Elvis Costello’s “Alison,” The Band’s “Evangeline,” Beach Boys’ “Caroline, No,” and The Beatles' “Eleanor Rigby,” to name a few. Pretty dope idea if you ask us, and it was all recorded in one day.

Formerly making music as Paper Bird and Esmé's now swapped the chill of Colorado for the similarly boho vibes of Portland, beavering away on a new record which is finally done, done, done: We Were Wild is out on June 10 Grand Jury Music. This time she spent a year perfecting her tunes and below is the first track to be heard from the LP: "Feel Right." God, love a song that begins with the wail of feedback. "Feel Right" very quickly segues into a jittery pop tune with a bassline that races up and down like a seven-year-old after one too many Skittles. Esmé's tone, meanwhile, has a rasp to it that's really rather pleasing. It's pop with a smidge of punk. Pop with claws.

"'Feel Right' is a meditation on the dissonance between the body and the mind, between feeling and knowing," she explains. "The tune explores the concepts of 'right' and 'wrong' and the space in between them. I found myself asking—how do you know something truly unless you know its opposite? This song is sonically a lot louder and more aggressive than anything I've done before. In writing this record I found myself leaning into discomfort, exploring new sounds and feelings, finding the peace of the eye of the storm. These ideas of the dance between light and shadow, of polarity, are central themes of the album."

Pre-order digitally here and get "Feel Right" for free tomorrow.

Esmé Patterson Tour Dates

3/25/16 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge *

3/29/16 Seattle, WA @ Neumos *

3/30/16 Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett *

3/31/16 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *

4/1/16 Missoula, MT @ Top Hat Lounge *

4/4/16 Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre *

4/5/16 Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room Lounge *

4/5/16 Iowa City, IA @ Mission Creek Festival *

4/6/16 Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon *

4/7/16 Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center *

4/8/16 Iowa City, IA @ Gabe’s Oasis *

4/9/16 Holland, MI @ Park Theatre *

4/11/16 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge #

4/12/16 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place *

4/13/16 Ithaca, NY @ The Haunt *

4/14/16 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club *

4/15/16 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar *

4/17/16 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom and Tavern *

4/18/16 Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR Pub #

4/19/16 Evanston, IL @ S.P.A.C.E. #

* with San Fermin

# headlining date