New York, NY (Top40 Charts) NYC-based singer and multi-instrumentalist
Imani Coppola is announcing her upcoming spectacle of a record, The Protagonist, out October 4, 2019 via Ipecac Recordings. An album for a sunny day in the depths of an inevitable dystopia, The Protagonist radiates with a sense of urgency and inspiration - every song fraying at the edges from Imani's barefaced need to deliver her message, coming from a place of love, hurt, deep emotion, or a momentous compulsion to be abrasive as f. As a mirror to her sense of urgency and chaos, The Protagonist shifts genres like a gymnast, flawlessly morphing from the Country hoe-down of "Blackteria" to the rhythmic 60s girlgroup of "Rattle" to the piano-led balladry of "Contributing Member of Society" without a misstep or tumble.
Featuring her graceful expertise on the violin, her fourth single from The Protagonist, "Contributing Member of Society" celebrates the release of its accompanying video today. The song dons a wistful posture and drunken country twang with lyrics that don't candy-coat Imani's perceptions and hopes.
Taking on a dazzling balancing act of production and instrumental dexterity, each twist and turn, the sonic swerving, punk energy, and 90's pop broken up by hammering drum machine attacks of The Protagonist will force you to rewind and listen again until every song is wedged in your brain like a bedazzled ice pick. "Musically I wanted to apply myself in every way I possibly could," she explains, making sure that all of these precise and purposeful arrangements are as personal as possible. "I wanted the music to truly reflect who I am. I wanted to touch every instrument, write and play every part, put love and attention into the strings, show my vulnerability, my weaknesses and my strengths."
The Protagonist poured out of Imani's brain partly as a creative reaction to her own life at the time. "I didn't come here to hop over rats and kill roaches," she says. "But during that time in my life that's all I was really doing, aside from drinking and sending people weird, overly felt, psychotic text messages at 4am. I was completely paralyzed by fear about my future. I was so dissatisfied and disappointed with myself and the world. I had to take a radical stand and fight back against my own despondency and resignation. I was prepared to kick my own ass. All of the effort I put into the album gave me a sense of pride that I hadn't felt in quite a long time."
For some tracks on the record, Imani turned inward to address her experience with mental health. "I wanted to expose these themes of depression, chemical dependency, self medication, isolation, self harm because all too often these topics are ignored until it's too late and then you end up with a really fing talented dead person."
Not just a musical commentary about mental health, The Protagonist is also a reaction to the state of the country, "I needed to make this album as entertaining and upsetting as
America itself is right now. I'm a fing artist, it is my job to react to what's going on in society, this is not the time to shy away from difficult subject matters, now is the time to grab them by the fing balls."
This album is a powerful force and an honest painting of Imani Coppola's worldviews. In her words, "I want people to feel shaken, moved, rattled. I want them to feel their own importance in life. I want them to hear their own voice more clearly in their hearts. I want them to be more in touch with their truth. I want them to be kinder to others. I want them to be kinder to themselves. I want them to know they are not alone. And if they think they're crazy, they're in a good place. It's the ones who don't think they're crazy you gotta worry about."
Imani Coppola's The Protagonist is out October 4, 2019 via Ipecac Recordings.
