Upon the 2021 release of Ian Sweet’s Show Me How You Disappear, songwriter Jilian Medford told Uproxx the album came about because she “had just reached a dark place” and writing it captured her “trying to heal from something traumatic.”
Medford released her Star Stuff EP in 2022, but on Thursday (August 10), she reappeared to give Show Me How You Disappear its full-length follow-up. Sucker will arrive on November 3, and if the lead single is any indication, she’s in a much better place.
“Your Spit” arrived alongside a Brittany Reeber-directed video simultaneous with the album announcement, setting an uninhibited tone. In the video, Medford goes solo to the movie theater. While surrounded by couples making out, she sings of craving the same passion: “Kiss me like you mean it / Kiss me like you’re leavin’ / Your spit tastes different.”
“‘Your Spit’ is about the joy and fear that surrounds new relationships. The excitement that’s also accompanied by doubt. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say the song is just mostly about making out,” Medford explained in a statement.
She also added to context to the album as a whole, stating, “Show Me How You Disappear was written during a really difficult period of my life after reckoning with a mental health crisis. I survived that very moment in my life through writing that record, and the extreme urgency to heal is reflected in the songwriting. With Sucker, I felt more capable to take my time and experiment without being totally afraid of the outcome. It wasn’t life or death — it was just life, and I was lucky to be living it.”
Watch the “Your Spit” video above, and check out the Sucker cover art and tracklist, as well as upcoming Ian Sweet tour dates, below.
1. “Bloody Knees”
2. “Smoking Again”
3. “Emergency Contact”
4. “Sucker”
5. “Comeback”
6. “Your Spit”
7. “Clean”
8. “Fight”
9. “Slowdance”
10. “Hard”
08/11 — Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre #
08/12 — Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre #
08/17 — Los Angeles, CA @ Skirball Cultural Center
08/22 — Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere – Rooftop $
11/09 — London, UK @ Pitchfork Music Festival London
# with Please Don’t Destroy
$ co-headline with Why Bonnie
Sucker is out 11/3 via Polyvinyl. Find more information here.