Speedy Ortiz Celebrate New LP ‘Rabbit Rabbit’ at Drkmttr with Foyer Red & Nicole Yun Tonight, Sept. 25

It’s been more than five years since Philadelphia by way of Massachusetts indie rock outfit Speedy Ortiz released their last album, Twerp Verse, and in that half decade so much has happened- we experienced a global pandemic, the political climate that informed that album has changed, Speedy Ortiz themselves have welcomed new members (bassist Audrey Zee Whitesides and drummer Joey Doubek, with guitarist Andy Molholt having only joined shortly before their last LP), and frontwoman Sadie Dupuis released two poetry books and a second solo album under her electropop moniker Sad13 and contributed to a DIY album of covers from ABC’s Nashville, among many, many other events which all, in some way big or small, feel like they influenced the group’s brand new fourth album Rabbit Rabbit, out now through Dupuis’ own Wax Nine Records imprint at Carpark.

After making a stunning introduction a decade ago with debut LP Major Arcana (the band started a couple years earlier, and was briefly Sadie’s solo project), Speedy Ortiz quickly became darlings of the indie rock scene, lauded for their catchy hooks, off-kilter riffs, outspoken punk spirit, and raw and earnest and poetic writing style. Over the years they’ve appeared at countless festivals, toured with some major acts (and took some soon-to-be indie breakouts on the road), and have remained critical favorites, expanding their sound across sophomore LP Foil Deer in 2015, and the aforementioned Twerp Verse in 2018. With Rabbit Rabbit– named for a superstitious incantation long practiced by Dupuis- the band, with their revamped lineup, sound as inspired as ever, taking on a new sense of self-reflection and musical urgency, with all of the slick production, pop accessibility, indie rock propulsion, and smart and poetic lyricism we’ve come to expect from Speedy Ortiz.

Though they made it to Nashville pretty regularly from 2014-2018, in support of those first three albums, it also appears to have been five years since Speedy last played Music City, so their return tonight, Sept. 25, to headline Drkmttr is a particularly welcome one! Brooklyn indie/art rock outfit Foyer Red and indie rocker Nicole Yun (of Eternal Summers) are tapped to open, and tickets are still available right here. This is a really phenomenal lineup for fans of substantive, smart, poppy, and slightly off-kilter indie rock, at Nashville’s preeminent DIY show space; don’t miss it!

Speedy Ortiz, Foyer Red, and Nicole Yun will perform tonight, Sept. 25 at Drkmttr. The show is all ages, begins at 8 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.), and tickets are available for $16.