We have spent years waiting on new Liz Phair music — how many just depends on whom you ask. It’s been a year and a half since Phair dropped her first new song, “Good Side,†in October 2019 and said an album would follow in spring 2020. Then, just before the pandemic hit in early March, Phair said she would release an album called Soberish by summer. Yet summer came and went, and by September 2020, Chrysalis Records announced the label had signed Phair, with Soberish set for … 2021. And we can’t forget that it has now been over a decade since Phair’s wonky, misunderstood last album, Funstyle, came out in July 2010. But Phair is finally ready to make her big return — and today, April 14, she announced Soberish would come out on June 4. Phair’s seventh album finds the widely influential rock singer-songwriter resuming her collaboration with producer Brad Wood, who helmed her classic Exile in Guyville along with follow-ups Whip-Smart and whitechocolatespaceegg. “When you meet your ‘ish’ self again after a period of sobriety, there’s a deep recognition and emotional relief that floods you, reminding you that there is more to life, more to reality and to your own soul than you are consciously aware of,†Phair said in a statement. “But if you reach for too much of a good thing, or starve yourself with too little, you’ll lose that critical balance.â€
With the announcement, Phair gave fans another taste of her new music, releasing Soberish opener, “Spanish Doors.†Following previous singles “Good Side†and “Hey Lou,†it’s the catchiest piece of pop-rock yet from the project, yet another reminder of what we had been missing from Phair over the past decade-plus.