Fenne Lily has shared “Dawncolored Horse,” a song off her new album, Big Picture, available April 14th via Dead Oceans. The track follows lead single, “Lights Light Up,” “Dawncolored Horse” provides an uplifting meditation on the freedom that comes with closeness. Taking its title from a Richard Brautigan poem, “The Horse That Had A Flat Tire,” Fenne interprets the poem — and the song it inspired — to be a reflection of the idea that another person can become almost a sentient space in which to exist. “[Brautigan] talks about the woman he loves as being a ‘breathing castle.’ I truly don’t know what that means, but for me he’s distilled a feeling of absolute closeness. When you know someone so well it feels like you’re almost living inside them. That can be claustrophobic,” she adds, “but before it’s too much, it’s incredible.”

“A lot of the music I was listening to while I was writing seemed to be old kind of country stuff; the album Anymore For Anymore by Ronnie Lane and Slim Change was a big one (‘hear Roll On Babe from ’74’) — anything that sounded warm and comfortable, just people in a room playing what came most naturally. When I brought this song to the band it easily fell into that sort of world — it felt stable, which is cool for a song that came from a place of total instability.” Backing Fenne on vocals and rhythm guitar are Joe Sherrin (lead guitars), Kane Eagle (bass), James Luxton (drums), Phil Cook (banjo) and Brad Cook (mellotron).

Big Picture was tracked live in co-producer Brad Cook’s North Carolina studio, the album delineates the phases of love and becomes a map of comfort vs. claustrophobia. “Writing this album was my attempt at bringing some kind of order to the disaster that was 2020,” Fenne states. “By documenting the most vulnerable parts of that time, I felt like I reclaimed some kind of autonomy.”

The 10 songs are Fenne’s first and only to have been written over the course of a relationship; 2018’s On Hold and 2020’s BREACH both confront the pain of retrospection, saying goodbye to a love that’s gone. Big Picture does the exact opposite — rooted firmly in the present, it traces the narrative of two people trying their hardest not to implode, together.

“This isn’t a sad album — it’s about as uplifting as my way of doing things will allow,” she says. “These songs explore worry and doubt and letting go, but those themes are framed brightly.” With confidence and quiet strength, each track provides insight into Fenne’s ever-changing view of love and, ultimately, its redefinition — love as a process, not something to be lost and found.

Fenne Lily 2023 Tour Dates:

Sat. Apr. 15 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club ^
Sun. Apr. 16 – Dublin, IE @ Workman’s Club ^
Tue. Apr. 18 – Glasgow, UK @ St Luke’s ^
Wed. Apr. 19 – Manchester, UK @ YES ^
Thu. Apr. 20 – London, UK @ Islington Assembly Hall ^
Fri. Apr. 21 – Bristol, UK @ Trinity ^
Sun. Apr. 23 – Brighton, UK @ Patterns ^
Mon. Apr. 24 – Brussels, BE @ AB Club ^
Tue. Apr. 25 – Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet ^
Thu. Apr. 27 – Hamburg, DE @ Nochtspeicher ^
Fri. Apr. 28 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA Ideal Bar ^
Sat. Apr. 29 – Berlin, DE @ Frannz ^
Mon. May 1 – Munich, DE @ Ampere ^
Tue. May 2 – Cologne, DE @ Stadtgarten ^
Wed. May 3 – Paris, FR @ FMR ^
Thu. May 11 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room *
Fri. May 12 – Felton, CA @ Felton Music Hall *
Sat. May 13 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall *
Mon. May 15 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos *
Tue. May 16 – Portland, Oregon @ Aladdin Theater *
Wed. May 17 – Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre *
Fri. May 19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court *
Sat. May 20 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater *
Mon. May 22 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck *
Tue. May 23 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line *
Wed. May 24- Milwaukee, WI @ Back Room at Colectivo Coffee *
Thu. May 25 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
Fri. May 26 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Eccentric Cafe *
Sat. May 27 – Toronto, ON @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern *
Tue. May 30 – Portsmouth, NH @ 3S Artspace *
Wed. May 31 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair *
Fri. Jun. 2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *
Sat. Jun. 3 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *
Sun. Jun. 4 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat *
Mon. Jun. 5 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall *
Tue. Jun. 6 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West *
Wed. Jun. 7 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East *
Fri. Jun. 9 – Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge *
Sat. Jun. 10 – Fort Worth, TX @ Tulips *
Sun. Jun. 11 – Austin, TX @ The Parish *
Tue. Jun. 13 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf *
Thu. Jun. 15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge *
Fri. Jun. 16 – West Hollywood, CA @ Troubadour *

* = co-headline with Christian Lee Hutson
^ w/ Naima Bock

Pre-order Big Picture by Fenne Lilly HERE