After co-fronting the riot grrrl alt-rockers Veruca Salt for more than 30 years, guitarist and co-vocalist Louise Post is releasing her first solo album, Sleepwalker, on June 2.
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Writing a collection of songs during the pandemic, Post naturally began veering away from writing another Veruca Salt album—and a follow-up to the band’s fifth album Ghost Notes in 2015—and into more personal narratives.
“Out of nowhere, these songs started flowing out of me and almost appeared to be writing themselves,” said Post in a statement. She added that many of the melodies for the songs also came during a very transitional state of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness known as hypnagogia, which would ultimately inspire the album title.
“I have always identified as a sleepwalker,” shared Post. “I slept-walked around my house routinely when I was a child, and even down the street. I believe in hindsight it was me trying to process what was going on in my home with my parent’s troubled marriage.”
Post continued, “As far as I know, I stopped sleepwalking after the divorce when I was eight, but it has always been a part of me that I feel protective of a little girl who I feel sad for,” and added that sleep has also served as a gateway to creativity.
Throughout her “sleep-walking” writing sessions, Post wrote enough material for three albums before filtering the batch down to 11 tracks for Sleepwalker. She also admitted to being influenced by Billie Eilish and Finneas’ work, in addition to Imagine Dragons and Post Malone, when writing.
Working with producer, engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and Lions singer Matt Drenik, Post played all the guitar, bass, and piano on the album, along with a team of musicians that helped fill out some tracks. Covered in densely planted instrumentation, Sleepwalker moves through several varied trances, opening on the more somber “Queen of the Pirates,” to the more electro-popped “All Messed Up,” and on through the anthemic rants and fuzzed up riffs of lead single “Guilty.”
“I love guitar-driven music, but that wasn’t important to me when I was making this album,” added Post. “I was really focused on exploring when it came to the arrangements. The sky was the limit when it came to orchestration on this album.”
On Sleepwalker, Post also goes where she may not have ventured with Veruca Salt, including her past and childhood and more visceral spaces, including the track “Hollywood Hill,” which she revealed looks “back lovingly on the past, paying homage to it, while drawing a clear distinction between the past and present.”
She added, “It’s a really bold thing to do at this moment in time for me personally to come out in a solo context after having been known for being in a band for my entire career.”
Injustices in relationships, female rights, politics, and more are explored throughout Sleepwalker. “Throughout it all, I felt like my higher purpose was screaming at me, trying to wake me up from my despair and setting me on a path of creativity,” said Post. “I had felt paralyzed and desolate as the pandemic set in and writing these songs helped snap me out of my stupor and reclaim a small part of the solution.”
To support Sleepwalker, Post is scheduled for 19-date tour in North America, which will kick off on June 12 in Vancouver, British Columbia at Cobalt before concluding on July 22 at the Ready Room in St. Louis, Missouri.
Sleepwalker track listing:
1. Queen Of The Pirates
2. Guilty
3. What About
4. All Messed Up
5. Killer
6. Hollywood Hills
7. Secrets
8. All These Years
9. Don’t Give Up
10. God I Know
11. The Way We Live
2023 Louise Post Tour Dates:
6/12 – Cobalt – Vancouver, BC
6/13 – Sunset – Seattle, WA
6/14 – MS Studios – Portland, OR
6/15 – Treefort Music Hall – Boise, ID
6/17 – Larimer Lounge – Denver, CO
6/19 – Club Dada – Dallas, TX
6/20 – Parish – Austin, TX
6/23 – Echoplex – Los Angeles, CA
6/25 – Casbah – San Diego, CA
7/10 – Aisle 5 – Atlanta, GA
7/11 – Pinhook – Raleigh, NC
7/13 – Foundry – Philadelphia, PA
7/14 – Union Stage – Washington, DC
7/15 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY
7/17 – Bar Le Ritz – Montreal, QC
7/18 – The Garrison – Toronto, ON
7/20 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL
7/21 – Turf Club – Minneapolis, MN
7/22 – Ready Room – St. Louis, MO
Photos by Alison Dyer / The Oriel PR
