Local singer-songwriter Debra Fotheringham will celebrate the vinyl release of her latest album, Valley of Annihilation, at The State Room on Friday, Feb. 20. Co-headlining is Libbie Linton, who will do double duty, playing both a set with Mideau and debuting her latest project, Lonlark.
Anyone who’s seen Fotheringham perform over the last two years already knows this: her latest carries a bold sense of reinvention. Valley of Annihilation is evidence of an artist shedding her skin — or perhaps getting more comfortable inside it — as she takes the reins on a new direction. There are more beats and stronger rhythms, for example, and a stylistic choice to overdub vocals more than record them live. She assumes stronger creative control this time around, and it comes with being unafraid to follow her ideas. It’s meant getting vulnerable with how she feels, she told me over the phone, opening her heart in ways she hasn’t before.
“[This album] is about shedding identities I put on myself as a child through culture and family and figuring out who I am and who I want to be. Sometimes that process is painful and often triggered by life experiences,” Fotheringham says. “It’s figuring out who I am at my core, leaning into love instead of putting up emotional armor, being more willing to let love in.”
Reimagining the album with a full band of players is a new experience for her, and one Fotheringham is up for. Collectively, they’re bringing their own artistry to the performance.
“I’ve played so much solo that I’m noticing the music transforms into another thing entirely when I’m with a band,” she says. “I have to be more on my toes, which I love. It’s going to feel more alive.”
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