hemlocke springs has announced her long-anticipated debut album, the apple tree under the sea, out Feb. 13 via AWAL. Rooted in reflections on her Christian upbringing and Nigerian immigrant heritage, the album opens with hemlocke encountering a red apple, a symbol of knowledge and worldly experience, in her own words, and traces her inner evolution as she confronts traumas and beliefs that have long stood in the way of accepting herself.
“I grew up very religiously — Christianity is very pertinent in Nigerian culture and the Black community — and I was also obedient to my elders,” hemlocke says about her childhood in Concord, North Carolina. “This album starts with a character going through the desert who says, ‘I’m going to do your will.’ They could be saying it to God or a man, but then they come across the apple. It’s about me being in this bubble, and realizing that being in that bubble was tougher than I thought, and then finally getting out and exploring who I really am.”
Read more: hemlocke springs plays pretend
Coinciding with the announcement is “head, shoulders, knees and ankles,” a song that retells a harrowing nightmare of defending oneself against an attacker. The track is the second single from the LP, preceded by “the beginning of the end.” The lyric visualizer for “head, shoulders, knees and ankles” features hemlocke springs singing in 8-bit video game style.
The announcement of the apple tree under the sea comes after touring with Conan Gray during his Wishbone Pajama Show tour and opening up for Chappell Roan‘s Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things shows in New York and Pasadena.
Listen to “head, shoulders, knees and ankles” and see the album’s full tracklist below.
hemlocke springs – the apple tree under the sea tracklist
1. “the red apple”
2. “the beginning of the end”
3. “head, shoulders, knees and ankles”
4. “W-W-W-W-W”
5. “moses”
6. “sever the blight”
7. “sense is” (prelude)
8. “sense (is)”
9. “set me free”
10. “be the girl!”
