Jilian Medford, AKA: Ian Sweet, will release her new album, Sucker, on November 3rd via Polyvinyl. Ahead of the LP’s arrival, she has shared single/video, “Emergency Contact.” “I watched you like an instant classic // Memorized every line, every scene,” she sings through filtered vocals and percolating synths that float below the song’s surface. “Someone else can watch you now // Cuz it can’t be me.” Spurred by a recent break up, “Emergency Contact” recognizes destructive patterns people willingly — and sometimes, purposefully — fall into in spite of their best interests.

The accompanying “Emergency Contact” video, directed by Brittany Reeber, features Medford as a flailing pop star on the set of a music video, hounded by a demanding director portrayed by Saturday Night Live’s Martin Herlihy. “A long time fan of Jilian’s work, I was really thrilled to be asked to collaborate and even more stoked when I realized that she was down to be funny,” says director Brittany Reeber. “‘Emergency Contact’ is probably my favorite track on the new record. It’s gut wrenching. So it felt most true to lean into a concept that played with the self-serious nature of a ballad. We also wanted to make something that would connect thematically to ‘Your Spit’ so we built a concept around a film set (the film you see screening in the movie theatre) and cast Martin Herlihy of SNL to play Jilian’s overbearing, maniacal director.”

Of “Emergency Contact,” Medford adds: “‘Emergency Contact’ is biting and sarcastic at its core. It’s a protection song to myself mostly. Trying to convince myself that I didn’t really want what I had lost in the first place as a way of coping with the outcome. The video we made for it is one of my favorite Ian Sweet videos ever (especially since it ties in with the ‘Your Spit’ video as well). I wanted to represent the humor that often goes hand in hand with deep sadness. In the video Martin (who plays the director) keeps quickly snapping me out of those deep dark moments and pushing my buttons to try to get a rise out of me so in turn I’ll put on the best performance possible.”

The creation of Sucker began in the fall of 2022; Medford took a cross-country road trip from her L.A. home to an artist residency at The Outlier Inn, which included 24-hour studio access to create in an unfettered fashion. “I went there not knowing exactly what I wanted to do or make, but I knew I wanted to explore and get out of my comfort zone. I forced myself to make things on the spot, in the moment and not overthink it too much.” Medford brought these demos to life with co-producers Alex Craig (Binki, Claud) and Isaac Eiger of Strange Ranger, along with mixing engineer Al Carlson (St. Vincent, Jessica Pratt), all of whom helped shape SUCKER into its current form —a record that reconciles Medford’s beginnings with where she’s landed at this current moment. “I revisited the reasons why I started playing music to begin with,” she explains. “I wanted to get more personal and showcase a more confident side musically and lyrically.”

Ian Sweet 2023 Tour Dates

Wed. Sept. 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern #
Sat. Nov. 4 – Brighton, UK @ Mutations Festival
Thu. Nov. 9 – London, UK @ Pitchfork Music Festival London – Hackney Church %
Sun. Nov. 12 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Tue. Nov. 14 – Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
Fri. Nov. 17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon

# w/ Please Don’t Destroy
% w/ Crumb, Helado Negro

Pre-order Sucker by Ian Sweet HERE