Watch Anna Tivel's video for "Bluebird" off upcoming LP 'Living Thing'

Portland, OR singer/songwriter Anna Tivel will release her sixth album, Living Thing, on June 31 via Fluff & Gravy Records (pre-order). It was made with longtime collaborator (and Bon Iver-approved musician) Shane Leonard, and written during the turbulent year of 2020. “I wrote feverishly in the strange chaos of that year, suddenly out of work and attempting to understand the shifting human fabric, the depth of desperation and the overwhelming tenacity of spirit,” Anna says. “The resulting songs felt rhythmic and vital, with more melody and soaring chorus than I’ve explored in the past.”

Following the folky lead single “Disposable Camera,” we’re now premiering second single “Bluebird,” which finds Anna channelling sweeping, classic pop balladry. “‘Bluebird’ is a song about hope, about the beautifully flawed, fundamentally human way we reach toward something better – forward and backward all at once, chaotic, painful, profound,” she says. “I wrote it after a summer of unrest, isolation, and thick wildfire smoke. My city, the whole country, the world – it all felt alarmingly silent and utterly deafening. History so close you could taste it. The future an unknown expanse lit up in eternal change.”

About the video, Anna adds, “The video is archival footage from old and recent protests around the world. And also this strange alien future dance sequence I found. We made a projector reel of the footage and put it up on a bunch of white sheets hung in an old empty office space. I’m moving through those scenes from the past and also out in front of it, just the blue light of the future still unformed…the past will break your heart but the future hasn’t been told yet and we forever see it lit up better in our minds…is the general idea :)”