Kate Nash has today (March 12) shared a whimsical new single, ‘Millions Of Heartbeats’ – check it out below.
The single is the latest from her upcoming new album, ‘9 Sad Symphonies’, following on from the recently released ‘Change’. The album will be released on June 21 via Kill Rock Stars, an independent label based in the US (Bikini Kill, Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney).
It’s Nash’s fifth album and the first in six years and you can pre-order the album here.
Nash has also announced details of a new headline show on November 28 at KOKO with tickets for the event going on sale here on March 22.
It follows on from one already announced at EartH in London on May 17. Tickets for this are on sale now here.
A press release describes the new single, which is also the album opener, as setting “the stage for a cinematic journey through darkness, resilience and the enduring power of hope.”
Speaking about the new track, Nash said: “‘Millions of Heartbeats’ is a song about losing your spark. It can be difficult to find hope in a world that’s constantly bombarding you with bad news, chaos and capitalism.
“It’s scary when you lose that spark and can’t lift yourself out of a pit. It can feel like that light you once had might never come back. The button to the song is that there’s millions of heartbeats on this planet and that’s the reason we have to try. All we have right now is earth and each other. And that’s actually a lot. So just keep trying.”
She continued: “It’s about that point in the pandemic where I had lost my spark for life. And I’m a pretty sparky person, so it was really sad to me.”
You can listen to the new track here:
‘9 Sad Symphonies’ track listing
‘Millions of Heartbeats’
‘Misery’
‘Wasteman’
‘Abandoned’
‘Horsie’
‘My Bile’
‘These Feelings’
‘Space Odyssey 2001’
‘Ray’
‘Vampyre’
A press release says Nash’s new album “begins a new and unprecedented artistic journey” and draws on “inspiration from old Hollywood glamour, vintage musicals, and the relentless pursuit of beauty in a chaotic world.”
Nash has once again teamed up with Danish producer Frederick Thaae on her new album, having last worked with him on her musical.
“We were in this completely different landscape for writing songs [on the musical], which was completely freeing,” Nash said in a statement. “I was writing for a story, I was writing about a King and a Queen and a proper story arc. In that world you need the audience to understand the songs immediately, it’s very direct, and it has lots of editing which I’d never done. It changed my outlook on songwriting. Also, we said at the beginning that we wanted to make something beautiful, nothing harsh. I’ve done a lot of harsh stuff before. We wanted loads of beautiful string arrangements.”
Elsewhere on the album, Nash explores mental health struggles, detailing depression and anxiety.
“It’s natural for an artist to write about emotions and feelings and darkness,” Nash added in the statement.
“Also a lot of my fans suffer from depression too and I noticed it more when I was doing my livestream chats over lockdown. Not talking about it is not the solution. Being open and creating that community within my fanbase is really important.”
The singer’s last studio album, ‘Yesterday Was Forever’, was released back in 2018 via Grrrl Gang. She has since shared a string of standalone singles including ‘Imperfect’ and ‘Wasteman’.
Nash has also worked as an actor in recent years, starring in the Netflix series GLOW as Rhonda ‘Britannica’ Richardson, and appearing in various other titles.