Meg Lui to Release Sufjan Stevens-Produced Debut LP 'Instant Validation'
The INSTANT VALIDATION lead single 'Elvis Queen' arrives via Asthmatic Kitty Records.
Singer-songwriter Meg Lui is set to release her debut album INSTANT VALIDATION on September 25 via Asthmatic Kitty Records, with production by Sufjan Stevens. The lead single 'Elvis Queen' is out now alongside a music video.
Lui has shared lead single 'Elvis Queen,' a rapturous, sprawling reflection on the passing of her beloved aunt. 'This song is about my aunt who was a huge Elvis fan,' Lui explains of the track, out now alongside a Joe Raffanti-directed video. 'At first it was a very slow, sentimental song, but we sped it up for the final version—she was a very joyful person, so it made sense for it to feel a little bit like a party.' 'Elvis Queen' also features Stevens as well as Liam Kazar on backing vocals, and follows 'Gone Girl' and 'Dreams' (The Cranberries cover)—album tracks released as singles earlier this year that drew attention from outlets like Stereogum and Brooklyn Vegan.
INSTANT VALIDATION includes additional contributions from Lui's Hudson Valley, NY, musical community, including: Hannah Cohen (backing vocals); David Lizmi (bass); Sam Evian (alto sax); Chris Holdridge (drums); Keenan O'Meara (production, guitar, and vocals); and Olivier Manchon (violin and viola). Stevens engineered and also played nearly all the other instruments on the album, which they recorded in his studio. INSTANT VALIDATION is now available for preorder.
On INSTANT VALIDATION, Northern California-born Lui shares an up-close glimpse into the magnificently curious wonderland of her mind, offering up a batch of songs both rooted in raw emotion and inhabited by a fantastically surreal cast of characters: anthropomorphic flowers, sea monsters, Elvis Presley, the ill-fated lovers of ancient Greek myths. The album marries her intimate songwriting with an extravagantly detailed sound anchored in her warm yet commanding voice—an instrument she's wielded to glorious effect in singing background vocals on acclaimed releases like Stevens' Javelin and John Legend's My Favorite Dream. As Lui's first full-length project after years of musical soul-searching, INSTANT VALIDATION ultimately presents a beautifully lived-in look at building a meaningful life amid the chaos of the modern era.
Lui set to work on the album in fall 2024, embracing a deliberately playful approach and carving out time for the album while holding down three jobs. After connecting with Stevens through mutual friends in the Catskills—a tight-knit community of singer/songwriters that also includes her longtime partner Keenan O'Meara—the two musicians began expanding on demos Lui had gathered over the past ten years, deliberately creating without any boundaries. The resulting body of work centers on a sonic aesthetic suited to the immense depth of her imagination. 'In the past I've tried to fit into some sort of Americana or indie mold, and it always felt a little flat to me,' says Lui, who attended Berklee College of Music and later launched her music career in Brooklyn. 'With Sufjan there was so much more out-of-the-box thinking, and we ended up adding layers upon layers that created an unrestrained soundscape for the record.'
Born from her diary-like yet poetic approach to lyrical storytelling, INSTANT VALIDATION often examines the endless whirlwind of navigating life in your mid-30s: the infinite complexities of love and familial bonds, the suffocating grip of our collective addiction to technology, the prolonged state of arrested development endemic to so many millennials. In an unexpected twist, the album's theme of pushing past inertia took on a new significance when Lui became pregnant in the final stages of the LP's production. 'I think my songs tend to sound like I'm giving advice, but most of the time I'm actually talking to myself and trying to work through my problems,' she says. 'A lot of these songs came from feeling like I'm perpetually stuck and wasn't growing as a person, and when I listened back I realized so many of the lyrics are about finding the courage to go ahead and live my life and not wait for this industry, which has been hard to find a footing in. To not wait on permission to make art - or try to make it fit into a perfect package and let it live and breathe as it is.'
As she begins an unprecedented new chapter in her life and career, Lui carries forward a quiet confidence undeniably shaped by the making of INSTANT VALIDATION. 'One of the biggest takeaways from creating this record was that 'Making things feels good, so go ahead and make what you want and don't take yourself too seriously,'' she says. 'It's so easy these days to get stuck on our phones and get distracted from what really matters, partly because of feeling overwhelmed by all the desperation and anger and fear that's out there in the world. But I hope this album might inspire people to get unstuck, and bring them back to the things that make them feel the most human and most connected to the people and life happening around them.'
Credit: Josh Goleman
INSTANT VALIDATION track list
1. Gone Girl 2. Elvis Queen 3. Roadkill 4. Dreams 5. Are You Out There (crimson & clover) 6. Instant Validation 7. Miss Queen Know It All 8. Andromeda 9. Monumental 10. Time Thief 11. Formation (of me) 12. Bluebird
Meg Lui: Official site | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok
Asthmatic Kitty Records, the label co-founded by Sufjan Stevens, has been home to a range of independent artists since the late 1990s. For more music and performance coverage, BroadwayWorld recently reported on the CANNONBALL FESTIVAL, which will feature over 100 artists across five stages at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and on Philadelphia International Music Festival students set to perform at Stoneleigh Garden.
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