Al Menne shares “Beth,” the quietly devastating new single from their upcoming debut solo album, Freak Accident, out September 22nd on Double Double Whammy. The song features Christian Lee Hutson on guitar and piano and Jodi’s Nico Levine on pedal steel.

“I wrote ‘Beth’ as a way to sort through someone else’s lived experience,” says Menne. “This song is a familial love letter to someone I’ve felt rather estranged from even though there is an exterior presentation that “everything is fine.”

Menne, best known as the lead singer of beloved Seattle band Great Grandpa, writes songs filled with clever melodies and honeyed, homespun rock arrangements that showcase their taut songwriting. They manage to collapse a maze of gnarled emotions into clear, direct, and inviting pathways, often using humor as an access point to something more profound. Their debut solo album was produced by Christian Lee Hutson, engineered and mixed Melina Duterte (Jay Som), and features work from guitarist Meg Duffy (Hand Habits). 

At just under thirty minutes, Freak Accident is an inviting meditation on seeking protection from life’s chaotic thunderbolts in our relationships and connections. These nine songs, like smooth rocks pocketed for self-soothing, serve to shore us up against situations that are ultimately out of our control. On tracks that veer through canyons, careen across highways, and wend through the avenues of memory, Menne offers us a way through.

Al Menne has announced record release shows in New York at Purgatory on October 6th and Los Angeles at the famed Bob Baker Marionette Theater on September 21st. Tickets are available now.

Photo Courtesy: Seannie Bryan