PREMIERE: Anti-Folk Artist Owen FitzGerald Unveils New Single “Don’t Give Me A Pet” From Upcoming Album

Durham, North Carolina-based singer-songwriter Owen FitzGerald recently shifted from performing as Jokes&Jokes&Jokes to his own given name. Serving as a reintroduction of sorts, the fresh rebranding comes with a new album, A deep clean you can count on!, out February 4th via Sleepy Cat Records. Following in the footsteps of outsider-poet country artists like Cass McCombs and Simon Joyner, FitzGerald’s nine track album creates distinct vignettes that tackle the dissociative effects of strained relationships with our bodies, falling in love, getting sober and surviving the grist-mill of modern life.

About the album FitzGerald writes, “These nine songs are like school pictures. They are wallet-sized portraits taken between 2006 and 2016. The songs on “A deep clean you can count on!” are frightened, sad, confused, bewildered, dislocated, hopeful, and hopeless. They’re emotional snapshots. Sometimes I can’t recognize myself in the songs. Other times I’m so swept up that I’m carried back in time by strong, old feelings. I’m hungover and doomed. I’m an unfixable thing that hurts other people. Whenever you find an old picture of yourself in a yearbook or a sock drawer I hope you feel happy to be where you are. More than anything else, that’s how this record makes me feel.”

With the release date inching closer, Owen has shared its third single “Don’t Get Me A Pet”, a rocking anti-folk tune that flips singer-songwriter expectations on their head. Frantic guitar parts are matched by its slow, steady switch ups, as he admits his failures and humanistic instincts with a touch of humour and chaos.

“My family attended the 10am Mass at St. Raphael’s every Sunday while I was a child”, Owen continues. “”Our” seats were on the left, and towards the front, if you were looking at the altar. I always held the aisle. After taking communion, a Catholic is supposed to kneel in prayerful contemplation until everyone has had their turn. Each week, dozens of congregants filed past me to and from the Eucharist. I kneeled and clasped my hands. I bowed my head low so no one would notice my open eyes. I stared at their shoes and pretended to pray. At a rate of about one second per pair, I logged style, brand, color, material, and condition and rendered judgement. My entire brain focused on sorting the shoes into “cool” and “not cool” while I tried to keep my posture devout. Honest to God, I’ve never told anyone about this game of mine until now.”

Accompanying the single is the new music video, which gives a behind-the-scene look at the album’s cover art.

Listen to “Don’t Give Me A Pet” below, and discover more of Owen’s music on his bandcamp page.

Track List

Touching the Oven at Work
Dark MeatDon’t Give Me a Pet
Austin Holly
L.T.L
Fear on Pine Street
Forest Secrets (Hope on Pine Street)
Bismuth, The Last Gentleman
All the Good Times are Past and Gone