Anna Burch returns with a new album entitled If You’re Dreaming (Polyvinyl Record Co.), which is set to drop on April 3rd. The album follows her amazing 2018 debut, Quit The Curse. It was a concentrated wash of energetic, serotonin-boosting pop. Jangly guitars, blithe vocal harmonies and an occasional undercurrent of grungy fuzz all converged in seemingly straightforward songs that hid their complexities under sunny hooks. The impact of the songs was immediate and exciting, presenting narratives of confusion and upheaval with melodies so bright it was hard to do anything but smile. Two years later, Burch’s follow up If You’re Dreaming takes us down a different path than its predecessor, shedding some nervous energy in favor of a deeper exploration of an internal world.

Today she shares her new video for the single “Not So Bad.” Of the video, Burch offers:

I wrote “Not So Bad” the day before I left to record because I felt there was an important piece of the album missing—a hopeful, escapist pop song that dealt more positively with themes the other songs were circling around—and luckily it came together almost immediately. The chord progression felt light and jazzy, and when I started to write the words I remembered my mom bugging me about how melancholic my lyrics tend to be, “Surely your life hasn’t all been that bad!” 

I wanted to express the importance of cultivating a rich interior life that falls outside of the economy of images and information we’re disseminating at all times. Not So Bad is an optimistic love song about retreating into memories to find what you need to feel in control of your own narrative when everything else around you feels precarious.