RACHEL BOBBITT ANNOUNCES DEBUT ALBUM & SHARES NEW SINGLE/VIDEO FOR “HANDS HANDS HANDS”
Rising Canadian artist Rachel Bobbitt announces her long-awaited debut full-length album today. Swimming Towards the Sand, out October 17th on Fantasy Records, was made in Los Angeles with producer Chris Coady (Beach House, Future Islands, DIIV), but it is rooted in her childhood in Nova Scotia. Written between call centre shifts, hotel rooms, and fleeting homecomings, Swimming Towards the Sand is a reflection on loss, girlhood, coming of age, the thrill of new infatuation, and the confusion and discomfort that accompanies it.
Raised in the windswept Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, Bobbitt first found an audience through the lens of internet virality. Growing up in a musical household, where her mom’s side hosted kitchen fiddle parties, Bobbitt amassed a large Vine following, performing covers and originals to hundreds of thousands of followers, leading to Shorty Award nominations and being crowned by Buzzfeed as one of “13 Amazing Singers You Should Follow On Vine.” But instead of running with the fame, Bobbitt took a step back, overwhelmed by the onslaught of opinions—opinions on her career, appearance, voice, image—at an age when she was still figuring out what those things meant for herself.
A dozen years later, after studying Jazz and Vocal Pedagogy at the renowned Humber College, learning the rules of the road while touring with the likes of Men I Trust, Indigo de Souza, and Blonde Redhead, and navigating the music industry from her home base in Toronto, Bobbitt arrives at Swimming Towards the Sand with an unwavering sense of purpose. It’s an album that revisits her roots with the clarity of perspective, the wisdom of experience, and the lessons of resilience that can only come with time. It looks back with an eye both clear and nostalgic and reflects her memories via sharply contemporary music. On this album, Bobbitt wields her jazz-trained voice like a guitar or keyboard, layering harmonies in conversation with herself, for a poignant exploration of grief, girlhood, memory, and return.
Out today alongside the album announcement is “Hands Hands Hands.” The stunning lead single is borne out of loss and grief, melding electric guitar, a deceptively joyful synth, and bashing drums for a dramatic elegy, with Bobbitt pleading “Tell me you’re okay.” Bobbitt says of the track: “Hands Hands Hands” is equal parts dream and experience—the first verse built around the experience of losing a loved one from afar, and the second verse a surreal depiction of the feelings of helplessness and horror that can accompany grief. The chorus is borrowed from a children’s song from the 1870s—a song my grandfather used to sing constantly, called ‘Reuben and Rachel.’” Listen to the song and watch the Jeff Miller-directed video, filmed at sunset over Nova Scotia’s Baxter’s Harbour, HERE.
PRE-ORDER SWIMMING TOWARDS THE SAND NOW
Bobbitt’s North American fall tour dates will support Swimming Towards the Sand. Additionally, she announces a series of free, community-based bi-weekly Park Dates all over Toronto, which will feature performances from local artists in different mediums and a coffee blend made specifically for these events, all curated by Bobbitt herself. Tickets are available via rachelbobbittmusic.com.