Jess Cornelius shares new single/video, “Laps in the Drugstore.” The track is off her upcoming LP CARE/TAKING, available June 14th via Tender Loving Empire Records. Cornelius explains. “It wasn’t clear how to finish it or what it was really about. But it stuck in my head and eventually I came back to it in the middle of making the album. And then it made sense — I’d been so scared of changing my situation even though it was crushing my self-esteem. And once I finally did, the future opened up. Something comes behind, every single time.”

On the video, Cornelius further adds: “Watching the relentless and preventable horrors inflicted on Gaza over the past six months has made releasing new music a dissonant experience – it can all feel so trivial. But a friend recently reminded me that, like art, joy is also resistance, and this video is really centered on that: not losing your own joy and humanity while pushing for change. I love making music videos because they feel a lot like songs or stories: I never know what I’m really making until I’m over halfway through. This one was just me with my phone and a tripod and a big rock…and my kid makes a sweet cameo too.”

On CARE/TAKING, the New Zealand-raised, Los Angeles-based artist sings of personal upheaval with striking lucidity and emotional nimbleness. Where 2020’s Distance found her untethered moving across continents and entering a solo career after a long stint fronting the Australian band Teeth & Tongue, this LP has the songwriter firmly established in her California home but no less at a crossroads. Over 10 intricate and immediate songs, she grapples with squaring global crises and insecurities with the transformations and responsibilities in her life. It’s searching indie rock that’s as biting as it is comforting.

Cornelius enlisted producer and multi-instrumentalist Mikal Cronin—an L.A. known for his own solo music and his work with Ty Segall—to help winnow down the material from nearly 20 demos she sketched out at home. Cornelius and Cronin, along with drummer Steven Urgo, diligently recorded CARE/TAKING over sessions at Cronin’s home studio as well as Segall’s Harmonizer Studios.

Jess Cornelius 2024 Tour Dates

Fri. June 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ Scribble
Thu. July 11 – Sacramento, CA @ Starlet Room
Fri. July 12 – San Francisco, CA @ Kilowatt
Sat. July 13 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Crepe Place
Thurs. July 18 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza
Sat. July 20 – Portland, OR @ The Showdown
Sun. July 21- Vancouver BC @ Wise Hall
Thu. Aug 8 – New York, NY @ TV Eye
Fri. Aug 9 – Northampton, MA @ The Iron Horse
Sat. Aug 10 – Philadelphia, PA @ MilkBoy Philly
Sun. Aug 11 – Baltimore, MD @ OttoBar
Mon. Aug 12 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom

Pre-order CARE/TAKING by Jess Cornelius HERE