Sarah Neufeld previews new solo album with third single "The Top"

"The Top" follows last month's "With Love and Blindness", and will appear on Detritus alongside her February lead single "Stories".

Neufeld's new track is accompanied by a video shot at The Boiler in Brooklyn by Bell Orchestre bandmate Kaveh Nabatian. She explains that "during the Covid era build up to the release of Detritus, it felt necessary to create a performance video. It’s been a lonely year, and a year without performing live or having much connection with collaborators and bandmates. I needed to capture the essence of what I do, what drives me as a musician, and communicate that. As much a way of engaging with myself as with my listeners: Here we are, still breathing and playing and listening to music."

She adds, ""The Top" is an emblem of my soloistic performance and writing style. The piece came together one melodic puzzle fragment at a time, written on my instrument while playing, repeating phrases over until fluid and calling toward the next unfolding passage. Performing "The Top" is at once trance like and difficult; one off-putting thought easily throws the whole thing off the rails. It was the first brick in the album. The only piece without drums or other instrumentation, it’s just me, centered in the whirlwind of my own creation. The Top represents change, and the struggle in making peace with oneself."

Detritus will follow Neufeld's 2016 album The Ridge, and saw Neufeld work with Arcade Fire bandmate Jeremy Gara, Bell Orchestre bandmate Pietro Amato and Stuart Bogie.

Neufeld says of the tracks, "I was inspired by both a sense of interior aloneness, and a sense of deep intimacy. Within both, a profound questioning of identity and intention, and ultimately, a grieving over one’s former sense of self. The stories we’ve told ourselves that we can no longer believe. Nestled within deep layers of comfort, familiarity, and solace, I’m able to repeat myself again and again, never learning, never looking back. Simultaneously becoming wiser and more ignorant as the years wind on, beauty and grace exist even here, in this rift."