Meg Remy has been teasing a larger project as U.S. Girls since last year's single "So Typically Now." She followed that track up with the cinematic ballad "Bless This Mess," which happens to be the title track of U.S. Girls' next album that's coming out February 24 via 4AD. The official album announce isn't the only thing Remy shared with us today—there's also another new single from the upcoming 10-track LP titled "Futures Bet," an easygoing synth-funk procession of righteous guitar riffs, tinkering percussion, and breathy embellishments.
"Futures Bet" begins with growls of guitar distortion that make way for what seem to be the first few notes of "The Star-Spangled Banner." But a bubbling bass, airy whips, and steam bursts entangle themselves before the patriotic anthem can go any further. "No matter what we did or didn't do / The only thing that's true is / Breathing in, breathing out," Remy sings in a reassuring tone.
While "Future Bets" is a relaxed, Prince-ian urge to not fixate on the future, its accompanying video is much more disorienting. The Alex Kingsmill–directed visual features Remy and Jane Inc.'s Carlyn Bezic as personified trash. Their faces morph with "a combination of traditional 3D animation and composited live action footage [that] was fed into various Stable Diffusion deep learning models." It's as captivating as it is unsettling.
Bless This Mess was created while Remy was pregnant with her twin boys, which impacted her performance as well as the inspiration for the project (album closer "Pump" samples her breast pump). The album also features a roster of collaborators including Alex Frankel of Holy Ghost!, Marker Starling, Ryland Blackinton of Cobra Starship, Basia Bulat, and Roger Manning Jr. of Jellyfish and Beck.
Watch the video for "Future Bets" below, and pre-order Bless This Mess here.
