Torres Gets the Urge to Merge

Torres – still better known to family and friends in her Macon hometown as Mackenzie Scott – has found a new home on Merge Records. Following her stunning and organic-sounding eponymous 2013 debut, Torres connected with longtime PJ Harvey collaborator Rob Ellis to create a pair of stylized albums that occasionally veered into bloodless terrain. Silver Tongue (due January 31) marks Scott’s first foray into self-production, and promises a song cycle exploring the heady array of emotions encompassed by being in love.

Based on lead single “Good Scare” she’s retained many of Ellis’s atmospherics and mechanized beats, but has reintroduced the heart that made her early recordings so special. Torres has been Brooklyn-based for a while now, and she’s slated for a 2020 European tour before unleashing her Tongue on the States, a spring swing that will bring her to The EARL on Saturday, May 23.

Photo by Michael Lavine.