GRAMMY-winning songwriter Amythyst Kiah announces Still + Bright, her second album on Rounder Records, arriving October 25. Produced by Butch Walker (Taylor Swift, Green Day, Weezer) and recorded at his Nashville studio, the 12-track album merges her revelatory storytelling with a darkly cinematic twist on the rootsy alt-rock of her 2021 breakthrough Wary + Strange.
With its sonic palette encompassing everything from fuzzed-out guitars to gilded pedal steel and Kiah’s exquisitely graceful banjo work, Still + Bright fully affirms her as an artist of both daring originality and uncompromising depth.
Still + Bright explores the vast expanse of her inner world and interests: her deep-rooted affinity for Eastern philosophies and spiritual traditions, a near-mystical connection with the natural environment, the life lessons learned in her formative years, and much more.
Featuring collaborations with S.G. Goodman, Billy Strings and Avi Kaplan (Pentatonix), the project also marks a complete transformation in Kiah’s songwriting process: her first time opening up her approach and working with co-writers on an album. The album features co-writes with punk legend Tim Armstrong, Sadler Vaden (a guitarist/vocalist for Jason Isbell’s 400 Unit) and Sean McConnell (Brittney Spencer, Bethany Cosentino).
“On the last record it felt so cathartic to write about all the pain I was dealing with, but this time the songs came from a place of finding joy in the music,” says Kiah. “In the past I felt so mired down with anxiety that I sometimes held back from what I really wanted to write about; I felt like I needed to play it safe and keep certain thoughts to myself. But now I’m at a point where I’m confident in what I value and love, and because of that I’ve made the album I’ve always wanted to make.”
She shares the album’s first preview, ‘Play God and Destroy the World (feat. S.G. Goodman)’. Penned by Kiah with its title taken from a song she wrote at age 15, and inspired by The Matrix, the hard-charging track dispenses a searing commentary on the hypocrisy Kiah witnessed throughout her childhood in Appalachia – and ultimately speaks to the sense of hope and possibility she found in unexpected places.
Still + Bright Track List:
1. Play God and Destroy the World (feat. S.G. Goodman) (Amythyst Kiah, Sadler Vaden)
2. S P A C E (Kiah)
3. Empire of Love (Kiah, Sean McConnell)
4. I Will Not Go Down (feat. Billy Strings) (Kiah, Butch Walker)
5. Silk and Petals (feat. Butch Walker) (Kiah)
6. Die Slowly Without Complaint (feat. Avi Kaplan) (Kiah, Jeremy Lutito, Avi Kaplan)
7. Gods Under the Mountain (Kiah, McConnell)
8. Dead Stars (Kiah)
9. Dark Matter (Kiah)
10. Let’s See Ourselves Out (Kiah)
11. Never Alone (Kiah, Walker)
12. People’s Prayer (Kiah, Tim Armstrong)
Pre-save Still + Bright here