Maggie Rogers‘ last album “Heard It in a Past Life” came out in 2019, and today the musician has shared news of its follow-up titled “Surrender“, arriving July 29th. The album, which was recorded in Electric Lady Studios in New York, Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios near Bath in England, and Rogers’ parents’ garage, finds the songwriter giving in to harmonic emotional buzzing.
The announcement came with an album trailer directed by Rogers and Michael Scanlon. In it, Rogers recites a poem. “When I’m angry or in love, I feel it in my teeth. Strange harmonic buzzing. Cuts through my hands. My jaw. My breast bone,” it begins. The video matches her recited words about relinquishing power to emotion with close-up images of Rogers, New York City traffic, and bright explosions of light, with the black-and-white montages recalling Andy Warhol’s work. What I assume is snippets from the forthcoming album break through between her spoken word, presenting collisions of guitar and powerhouse vocals.
It takes a combination of raw talent and deep introspection to birth an album like Maggie Rogers’ “Surrender”. Full of collaborations with artists as varied as Rogers’ old pal Del Water Gap and late-night bandleader Jon Batiste, the album never settles on a direct muse, but flits between radio-friendly rock and early girl-power pop.
While not quite as daring as its predecessor, “Heard It in a Past Life”, the album still delivers as an honest expression of the singer’s desire to be taken seriously as an artist. Perhaps Rogers said it best in “Anywhere With You,” one of the album’s breakout hits: “All I ever wanted is to make something fucking last.” This time around, she has.
‘Surrender’ – the new album by Maggie Rogers, available July 29th, 2022
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