Margo Price has outlined plans for expanded album ‘Strays II’.
The songwriter is riding the crest of a wave, with her project ‘Strays’ gaining outstanding reviews on its release. At the time, Clash wrote: “Fresh from completing work on her memoir, fans could have forgiven Margo Price for using ‘Strays’ as a space for nostalgia introspection. Instead, she’s placed her focus on the future, laying down challenges to all around her. A remarkable talent, this is an album to cherish.”
Set to play London’s Lafayette on August 25th, Margo Price has just confirmed plans for a new expansive release.
‘Strays II’ offers a broader view of her recent album, a three-part expansion pack that features some fantastic guests. Available in full from October 13th, the inaugural instalment – ‘Act I: Topanga Canyon’ ft. Big Thief’s Buck Meek – is out now.
As if that wasn’t enough, Margo Price has also detailed a three-part short film directed by Chris Phelps.
Of the first instalment, Margo Price comments…
The title track is the story of how my husband Jeremy and I met and fell in love in Nashville two decades ago. I wrote most of the words and Jeremy wrote the chords and melody. It also reflects how we have always tried to stay true to who we are as people: ‘Love and pain it comes in waves but it was quite enough in those early days, we were wild as wolves my darlin’, we were strays.’
‘Closer I Get’ (co-written with Jeremy Ivey) was originally meant to open this double album with the line, ‘Being alive costs a lot of money but so does dying.’ I’ve always thought it was unfair that the moment we are born, we immediately start racking up debt just for existing. This song was conjured from the ashes of our initial psychedelic trip – sometimes your perception and depth of field changes depending on where you’re at in life.
‘Malibu’ was written with Mike Campbell in his Malibu home after Jeremy and I had driven through the canyon fleeing a forest fire to get my guitar from our Airbnb. I had the start of the song and brought it to him looking to finish it out. I wanted to write something with a country funk/Bobbie Gentry feel, a good long rambling story about the minutiae of the day, like ‘Ode to Billy Joe.’ Mike added the long ‘California’ yodel and the bridge and was exactly what the song needed. My favourite line is ‘love and grief are a package deal, the more you have, the more you feel.
Tune in now.
Related: In Conversation – Margo Price
Photo Credit: Chris Phelps
