Torres unveils video and forthcoming second album on Partisan Records

Today, Brooklyn-via-Nashville's Mackenzie Scott - aka TORRES - returns with the haunting, Ingmar Bergman-esque video for 'Sprinter': the title track from her forthcoming second album of the same name, due May 18th on Partisan Records (Eagulls, John Grant, Sylvan Esso). You can watch the Casey Pierce-directed clip here: http://ptsnre.co/SprinterVid

It serves as the sophomore video taken from the record, preceded by the darkly atmospheric visuals concocted for album opener - and lead single - 'Strange Hellos', which can be watched here. 'Sprinter', meanwhile, takes a glaring look at the songwriter's Baptist upbringing, offering the juxtaposition of a preacher who - while telling biblical tales such as that of Zacchaeus of Jericho: a much-maligned local tax collector eventually offered salvation by Jesus - eventually "went down for pornography." Scott’s emotional grappling with her religious past is actualised in the clip through fabric snares and lava baths with lyrics that allude to the spastic barrier between institutionalised religion and personal salvation. Director, Casey Pierce says, “this video is an origin story. It’s about the evolution of this earthly creature’s path through disillusionment and danger to a higher form with a broader understanding.”

UK/EU Tour Dates

• May 28th-30th Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona, Spain
• June 2nd Le Carmen, Paris, France
• June 3rd Privatclub, Berlin, Germany - http://ptsnre.co/TorresLiveBerlin
• June 4th Rough Trade East, London, UK
• Sept 4th-6th End of the Road Festival, Nr. Salisbury UK

Sprinter Partisan Records 18/5/15

1. Strange Hellos
2. New Skin
3. Son, You Are No Island
4. A Proper Polish Welcome
5. Sprinter
6. Cowboy Guilt
7. Ferris Wheel
8. The Harshest Light
9. The Exchange

On May 18th, Brooklyn's TORRES - aka Mackenzie Scott - returns with her second full-length LP, Sprinter, via Partisan Records (John Grant, Eagulls, The Dismemberment Plan, Sylvan Esso); the follow-up to the Nashville-bred songwriter's acclaimed self-titled debut album.

Following that primal introduction to Scott's introspective but relatable musical world, TORRES pushes herself to even noisier extremes on Sprinter: a punishing self-examination of epic spiritual and musical proportions.

Scott escaped the confines of her churning mind, however, in order to find herself by recording Sprinter in the market town of Bridport in Dorset, England; and then at the Bristol studio of Portishead's Adrian Utley. With his guitar riffs and synthesizers lingering in the background like a lowland mist and PJ Harvey's Robert Ellis and Ian Olliver on rhythm—the two fortuitously reuniting 23 years after the release of Dry, and in Scott's 23rd year of living—she crafted a "space cowboy" record.

"That's as simply as I can say it," says Scott, who cites inspirations as diverse as Funkadelic and Nirvana, Ray Bradbury and Joan Didion. "I wanted something that very clearly stemmed from my Southern conservative roots but that sounded futuristic and space-y at the same time."

It's a balancing act that Scott manages to perfection across Sprinter's nine tracks, a prime example being the record's contagious sixth track, 'Cowboy Guilt', which juxtaposes the contrast of Deep South conservatism with future sounds, juxtaposing George W. Bush parodies with wearing one's Sunday best, bouncing on a mechanically whimsical melody. On the very next track, 'Ferris Wheel', she'll be building to crescendos of longing atop squalls of ambient noise and submerged guitar chords. It's a versatile suite, sure, but one that never loses track of its focus: constantly mining the depths of self, fearlessly melding genres and, ultimately, facing down the darkness.