Downtown Records‘ Lola Kirke will release a five song EP of country duets Friends And Foes And Friends Again on September 13, 2019. The singer/songwriter/actor’s first single off the EP “Mama,” featuring Kelly Zutrau, is accompanied bu a video directed by Lola’s older sister, Jemima Kirke.

“Mama” is a song about the sometimes painful complexities of a mother/daughter relationship. Lola’s older sister, Jemima Kirke, offered to direct the video, which they had originally intended to star their actual mother. When she politely declined, they aged Lola and created a mother figure all of their own. The song features Wet’s Kelly Zutrau, who Lola met during her time at the Almanack Arts Colony on Nantucket last summer.

With “Win It”, Lola set out to write the country song she hadn’t ever heard but so desperately wanted to—one that encouraged tenacity in favor of re-exploration of what you already have, instead of throwing it away and finding something new. Lola had also never heard a country love song between two women so she invited Lilah Larson, of the band Sons Of An Illustrious Father, to join her.

“Shoulda Cheated” is a song “about soul sucking jealousy”. Co-written with Denver songwriter Brent Cowles – who she also met at the same artists colony in Nantucket – it came together in just one day and was demoed later that night with Bill Reynolds (Band of Horses) and Austin Jenkins, who would go on to produce the whole record. The result is a song that strives to be an anthem for anyone suffering an unjustly jealous lover.

The final two songs on the EP are covers. Lola had away considered Commander Cody’s 1972 ballad, “Seed And Stems (Again)” about being heartbroken and not having any weed to be one of the world’s saddest songs. Originally this was set to be the lone solo number on the EP, but Lola wanted to find a place to hear Texas-based musician, songwriter and frequent Leon Bridges collaborator Austin Jenkins’s voice somewhere; he appears across the whole record on guitar, bass, piano “and basically every other non-percussive/instrument non-pedal steel instrument,” she says.

And finally, there’s “Cocaine”. While all the other songs were pre-tracked by Austin and his frequent collaborator Josh Block (who played drums and also engineered) this one came together quite quickly in the studio in Fort Worth. Lola’s best friend – and first ever bandmate – Audrey Turner joins her. In college they had a band called Dos Clementinas and had frequently covered the old blues song. In the studio with her old friend Lola says the whiskey increased her a sense of nostalgia. “I liked the idea of our 20 year old selves getting this gift from our present selves: “Here you go girls—a real live musical recording!” she laughs. “It makes me very happy. The whole record does.”

Lola Kirke
Friends And Foes And Friends Again
Tracklist
Downtown Records

“Mama” ft Kelly Zutrau
“Win It” ft Lilah Larson
“Shoulda Cheated” ft Brent Cowles
“Seed And Stems” ft Austin Jenkins
“Cocaine” ft Audrey Turne