La Force will release her new album XO SKELETON on September 29th via Secret City. The album, coproduced by La Force and Warren Spicer (Plants and Animals). La Force has also shared fall tour dates: three headlining shows in Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa presenting the new album, as well as European support dates for Patrick Watson.

Opening track “condition of us,” the portrait of adoration, a love-affair that’s long-term, messy, fervent and profound. The track was the product of “Song A Day,” an invitation-only songwriters’ circle organized by producer/engineer Phil Weinrobe (Tomberlin, Kings of Convenience, Deerhoof) during the depths of COVID. Across three 10-day sessions, Engle created a new song every 24 hours, holding herself accountable alongside friends and luminaries like Leslie Feist, Maggie Rogers, Beck, and Big Thief’s Buck Meek. She wrote “condition of us” alone on GarageBand, tilting like a weathervane in her surroundings.

“The theme of the album revealed itself in the making,” she explains, recalling how the title track is rooted in a telephone call with her life-insurance broker—one everyday banality on the periphery of death. “At one point she said, ‘God forbid you should die.’ I was gobsmacked. And a bit hot-tempered. And I said those lines: ‘Well, there’s one thing guaranteed: no god or goddess is going to keep me alive.’”

La Force is the solo project of Ariel Engle, who has spent more than a decade as one of Canada’s most sought-after musical collaborators. Born and based in Montreal, she made her studio debut on Broken Social Scene 2017’s Hug of Thunder. The following year, Engle released La Force, garnering a Polaris Music Prize long-list nomination. The following year, The National’s Aaron Dessner, who recruited Engle to appear on the new Big Red Machine LP alongside Bon Iver, Taylor Swift, Fleet Foxes and Sharon Van Etten. Engle was also invited to contribute to the recent album of Patrick Watson, who used their collaboration as the lead single on 2022’s Better In The Shade.

La Force
XO SKELETON
Tracklist
Secret City Records

1. condition of us
2. how do you love a man
3. october
4. empathy sympathy
5. rock song
6. xo skeleton
7. ouroboros
8. zipolite
9. outrun the sun

La Force 2023 Tour Dates

09/08/23 – Cork, IE – SFSH Festival
09/22/23 Paris, FR – Cafe de la Danse**
09/23/23 Paris, FR – Cafe de la Danse**
09/25/23 Utrecht, NL – Tivoli Grote Zaal**
09/27/23 Leuven, BE – Het Depot**
09/28/23 Leuven, BE – Het Depot**
09/30/23 Geneva, CH – Antigel Festival (L’Alhambra)**
11/22/23 – Montreal, QC – Centre PHI #
11/24/23 – Toronto, ON – TD Music Hall #
11/25/23 – Ottawa, ON – Fourth Stage – NAC #

**Supporting Patrick Watson

# On sale June 2

Pre-order XO SKELETON by La Force HERE