Jenny Lewis Confirms First Solo Album in Six Years: ‘The Voyager’
When Rolling Stone caught up with Jenny Lewis at Sundance this year, the former Rilo Kiley frontwoman told us she had a new album on the way — one inspired by “insomnia” that “took a village” to make. Now we can confirm that record, titled The Voyager, is due July 29th via Warner Bros.
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“Making The Voyager got me through one of the most difficult periods of my life,” Lewis said in a statement. “After Rilo Kiley broke up and a few really intense personal things happened, I completely melted down. It nearly destroyed me. I had such severe insomnia that, at one point, I didn’t sleep for five straight nights. Many of the songs on The Voyager came out of the need to occupy my mind in the moments when I just couldn’t shut down.”
The end of Rilo Kiley came after the death of the singer and actress’ estranged father in 2010. Lewis grappled with both events as she contined to write new material, then hit the road with the Postal Service last year. When she returned to California, she immediately entered Ryan Adams’ studio (Pax Am, at Sunset Sound) with the musician and his partner Mike Viola, and started laying her ideas down.
“Ryan and I didn’t know each other very well before this album,” she said. ” We had hardly even listened to one another’s music, to be honest. But I trusted the vision, and Ryan ended up being the person to get me over the fear of finishing something I’d been working on for so long.” Adams and Viola helmed all but three tracks on The Voyager; Beck and Johnathan Rice also contributed production.
“This record was the hardest one I ever made,” Lewis added. “The Voyager tells that story: the longest night of my life and the journey to finally getting some rest.”
Lewis’ current tour runs through the beginning of August and includes stops at the Newport Folk Festival, Lollapalooza, Outside Lands and the Austin City Limits fests.
The Voyager track list:
“Head Underwater”
“She’s Not Me”
“Just One of the Guys”
“Slippery Slopes”
“Late Bloomer”
“You Can’t Outrun ‘Em”
“The New You”
“Aloha & The Three Johns”
“Love U Forever”
“The Voyager”