Ada Lea, the project Alexandra Levy— announces her new album, when i paint my masterpiece, will drop on August 8th via Saddle Creek/Next Door Records, ahead of the album’s arrival the artist has shared lead single, “baby blue frigidaire mini fridge.” when i paint my masterpiece, the third LP from Ada Lea, and follow-up album to one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden.

Alexandra Levy on “baby blue frigidaire mini fridge”

“The Chantal Akerman film where the camera moves in slow circular pans around her apartment. Then what if the frame quickly zooms out as far as it could possibly go? And in that wide pull back, what we recognize as universal is still ‘this chair, this window, this mountain view.’ Then, move out again, even further. What we are left with—three things: ‘our old time souls, this old time moon.’ Two things, I mean.”

After years of relentless international touring, the Montreal felt an urgent need for community and renewal. Gruelling road schedules with very little support left her wondering: who am I really doing all this for? The system was uncaring and broken, and so it was that she came to envision a new healthy and healing mode of musical genesis. “For me, that looked like resting, extending my creative reach, going back to school, studying painting and poetry,” she explains. “Taking a step away from music as guided by industry expectations. Simplifying things. Getting a job, starting to teach. Engaging with the process rather than the product.”

when i paint my masterpiece was largely recorded in rural Ontario in the waning weeks of 2023, and its warm harmonies and lush arrangements link back to a golden era of Canadian folk music. The core Ada Lea band—Tasy Hudson on drums, Chris Hauer on lead guitar, Summer Kodama on bass—recorded the album largely live-off-the-floor and acoustic in one room, off the grid in both senses, in the pocket, loose but in control and without a click in sight. Relinquishing the process to the whims of chance allowed for the sanctity of human error to rear its head. The album was produced alongside Here We Go Magic’s Luke Temple, who has lent his gently psychedelic sensibility to albums by artists like Adrianne Lenker and Hand Habits.

Ada Lea
when i paint my masterpiece
Tracklist
Saddle Creek Records

1. death phase of 2024 (rainlight)
2. moon blossom
3. baby blue frigidaire mini fridge
4. something in the wind
5. midnight magic
6. it isn’t enough
7. snow globe
8. everything under the sun
9. just like in the museum
10. bob dylan’s 115th haircut
11. diner
12. there is only one thing on my mind
13. dogs playing in the backyard
14. down under the van horne overpass
15. i want it all
16. somebody is walking in the water

Pre-order when i paint my masterpiece by Ada Lea HERE