Next month, Speedy Ortiz are set to release their long-awaited Twerp Verse follow up. Rabbit Rabbit features the already released singles “Scabs,” “You S02,” and “Plus One,” and today Speedy are back with another album preview called “Ghostwriter.” It comes with a video directed by Alex Ross Perry and starring a real who’s who of entertainers. Cameos include comedians Josh Gondelman and Emily Panic, musicians Ted Leo, Spencer Peppet (the Ophelias), Nicola Leel (Doe/Customer), Kate Meizner (Jobber), Zoë Brecher (Sad13/Bruce Springsteen), authors Rax King, Amy Rose Spiegel, and merritt k, New Yorker cartoonist Jason Adam Katzenstein; fellow United Musicians and Allied Workers organizers Spencer Compton, Marshall Moran, and more.
Here’s Sadie Dupuis on “Ghostwriter”:
While “Ghostwriter” ruminates on the horrible realities that stoke my anger—in this song’s case, the death of our climate and the criminalization of environmental protesters—it’s also about trying to live with less rage in the day-to-day. And not always succeeding, but not getting mad about that, either. And sometimes directing that angry adrenaline toward positive actions.
My bandmates picked “Ghostwriter” as a single, perhaps because it subtly nods to our unabashed love of nu metal. It was really fun to reunite with Alex Ross Perry after shooting together for his Pavement movie last fall, especially the part where we subjected him to so very many Deftones and Limp Bizkit videos for inspiration. The great Josh Gondelman improvised at least a dozen good “nu metal cover band” pun names for the intro, which made it hard to keep a straight face as our nu metal performance ‘Pleasantville’-ifies our crowd of friends into the most immaculate Hot Topic c. 2003 getups.
Watch “Ghostwriter” below.
Rabbit Rabbit is out 9/1 via Wax Nine.