Wax Idols has shared “Deborah,” the second single from their upcoming Collect Records release American Tragic, out Oct. 16th. “Deborah” expands on the themes presented in first single “Lonely You,” pairing the painful reality of heartbreak with remarkable pop songwriting, but this time with a deceptively minimal arrangement and undeniable bite.

Much has happened since the release of Wax Idols’ 2013 album, Discipline + Desire, and if you’re steeped in the shorthand of music criticism go-to narratives, it would be dangerously easy to get reductive about what happened next: The band’s singer-songwriter, Hether Fortune, supported the album as best she could, spent some time in 2014 as a touring player in White Lung, went through a heartbreaking divorce, and then sat down to make American Tragic – the band’s long-awaited third album and first for Collect Records. But that’s not exactly how it went.

“Divorce is a part of this record, yes, but this is not an entirely sad album,” Fortune explains. “The whole spectrum of grief is represented here — shock, pain, anger, loneliness, and then finding a way to work through all of that and not only survive, but thrive. That’s what I was going through. I was kind of trying to save myself.”

American Tragic is not only a deeply personal record, but a chiefly independent one: As a songwriter and tr multi-instrumentalist, Fortune wrote and recorded everything but the drums on American Tragic. Co-produced by Fortune and Monte Vallier (Weekend, Mark Eitzel, The Soft Moon, Vaniish), the only other player on this record is drummer Rachel Travers.

American Tragic Tracklist:

1. A Violent Transgression
2. Lonely You
3. I’m Not Going
4. Deborah
5. Goodbye Baby
6. Glisten
7. Severely Yours
8. At Any Moment
9. Seraph

Upcoming Wax Idols Dates:
August 28 – Oakland, CA.- Life Changing Ministries. (w/ VANIISH)