Avalon Emerson & the Charm Announces Self-Titled Debut Album

One of dance music's most celebrated contemporary figures, Avalon Emerson, is thrilled to announce the debut album for her new artist project Avalon Emerson & The Charm. The self-titled album will be released on April 28th via her new label Another Dove.

In celebration, Emerson has also released an incredible new track from the record entitled "Hot Evening," full of dazzling synths, springboard snare snaps, and Avalon's singular voice, warm as a twilight breeze. "Hot Evening" follows the critically acclaimed song "Sandrail Silhouette," released earlier this year.

"'Hot Evening' is a stamped passport," says Avalon. "It's a series of diary entries, home movies, and polaroids. It's the moment of calm when 200 adults all partake in group snack time and nap time at 35 thousand feet. It's seeing the same sun set over a new city skyline. It's wondering if I've spent my youth on too many proverbial and literal moving sidewalks, going forward sure, but to where? and will there just be another long terminal to cross when I arrive?

The sonic inspiration comes from somewhere between Todd Edwards, the Magnetic Fields, and the Chordettes. Unlike Sandrail, where disparate sketches slid together into a final version quickly, Hot Evening hovered around 75% done for over a year, ebbing and flowing into different shades of complete until the final touches came together right at deadline."

Avalon Emerson loves dance music, but when the time came to make her long-awaited debut album, she didn't want to make another dance record. She wanted to make something whose pleasures would last longer than a twirl or two across the dancefloor. The resulting album, Avalon Emerson & The Charm, marks the beginning of an evolution, not an experiment. Raised in Arizona, Emerson found her artistic footing while DJing at raucous Bay Area warehouse parties in the early 2010's.

She moved to Berlin in 2014 and quickly became a regular behind the decks at the city's famed Berghain. Emerson now stands as one of underground dance music's revered figures, beloved by fans for her melody-rich, genre-agnostic selections. Her production work employs a similarly free-flowing philosophy; as such, she's remixed the likes of Slowdive, Robyn, Four Tet, Christine and the Queens, and Octo Octa, among many others.

Created during an extended break from the hectic blur of her life as a touring DJ, the album is an intensely personal-and yes, pop-leaning-statement of intent from an artist who has long looked beyond the club for inspiration. Elements of pop have always been visible in her work, but they're at the very center of Avalon Emerson & The Charm.

Echoing her long standing love of Arthur Russell, Oppenheimer Analysis, Cocteau Twins, The Magnetic Fields and other artists who work on the fringes of pop, the self-titled LP focuses on a new kind of songcraft. Where she once was looking for the perfect beat, she's now more interested in shaping the contours of a brilliant pop song-and forging a lasting connection with whoever might be listening.

Having spent her entire career working more or less alone, Emerson purposely sought out a small cast of like-minded artists to help bring the album to life. Chief among them was UK avant-pop savant Bullion, who executive produced the record and, most importantly, shares both Emerson's predilection for shimmering pop melodies and her boundaryless approach to music-making. Working together, they cracked open her head and heart alike, creating a space where she could intimately reflect on the people and places she's loved and left behind.

Avalon Emerson & The Charm is a deeply lyrical effort. Over the course of the record, she navigates relationships as rocky as the Sonoran desert ("Sandrail Silhouette") and reflects on the ethereal nature of intimacy ("Karaoke Song"), but even as the narrative shifts toward meditations on betrayal ("Entombed in Ice") and wayward friends ("Astrology Poisoning"), the music itself exudes an easygoing grace, its soft-focus synth-pop streaked with melancholy but ultimately hopeful that something brighter might reside just around the bend.

Faint traces of the dancefloor remain-it's not hard to imagine songs like the plucky "Dreamliner" starting a bedroom dance party or two-but Avalon Emerson & The Charm isn't one for the ravers. It's bound to resonate regardless of whether whoever's listening has ever set foot in the club.

While The Charm is still very much Emerson's vision, it's something she sees as an ongoing, ever-shifting collaboration. Onstage, it means performing live with her wife Hunter Lombard and life-long friend Keivon Hobeheidar - for now. Indeed, The Charm has no fixed roster and no fixed rules; it's a vehicle for expression and connection, with Emerson at the helm.

The first ever tour dates for Avalon Emerson & The Charm are below as well. Tickets for all shows go on sale on Friday, March 3 at 10 am local time.

Tour dates

3/29/23 - London, UK @ Shacklewell Arms

5/2/23 - Ridgewood, NY @ Nowadays

5/5/23 - Brooklyn, NY @ Baby's All Right

5/6/23 - Philadelphia, PA @ Making Time at Warehouse on Watts

5/11/23 - Los Angeles, CA @ El Cid

5/17/23 - Berlin, Germany @ Kantine am Berghain

5/19/23 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Bitterzoet

5/23/23 - Manchester, UK @ Yes (Basement)

5/25/23 - Paris, France @ Le Hasard Ludique

6/2/23 - Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera

6/9/23 - Madrid, Spain @ Primavera

Photo credit: Tonje Thilesen

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