Back in 2013, seeing Mackenzie Scott, otherwise known as Torres perform in the back room of a tiny bar at SXSW was a genuine, spine-tingling delight. Now, after the success of the fractured, disconnected Americana of her self-titled debut album of the same year, she is back with a new record, Sprinter, which will be out on Partisan Records in May.

Treading a surefooted path between the minimally sparse and noisy extremes, she describes Splinter as a “space cowboy” record, citing inspirations as diverse as Nirvana and Funkadelic, 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.”

While we wait for that, the first taste comes in the shape of the aggressive, bitter rage of Strange Hellos and its visceral, bloodcurdling screams…And she’ll be playing the always wonderful End of the Road festival in early September.

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