Following the announcement of her forthcoming second album Amulet, Manchester-born artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist Freak Slug today shares new single “If I Could”, a hazy, slow-burning meditation on the emotional whiplash of heartbreak. The full record arrives on September 18 via Future Classic and, to celebrate, Freak Slug has also announced a string of in-store Rough Trade shows during release week, with full dates listed below.
Built around woozy guitars, understated percussion and Freak Slug’s unmistakable drawl in a dreamlike haze, “If I Could” sits among the album’s most vulnerable moments. It arrives alongside a mystical video directed by St Clair Bryant (Adéla, The Last Dinner Party) with Pulse Films.
On the track and throughout the forthcoming album, Freak Slug embraces her Manchester accent more openly than ever before, rejecting polished neutrality in favour of something her own. Inspired by the spirit of her Manchester hometown and the character-led vocal performances of artists ranging from Oasis and The Smiths to The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys, she leans into the quirks of her delivery rather than smoothing them away.
Speaking about the track, Freak Slug says:
“‘If I Could’ is obviously a love song – breakup shit. It’s about missing someone, and everyone knows that feeling. It’s like, yeah, well, here I am going through a breakup. Sometimes I miss them, sometimes I hate them, and sometimes I don’t even fucking remember them. But then in that moment, the song is about me, obviously feeling these things because I’m writing about it.”
Across Amulet, Xenya Genovese expands the strange, intimate world she’s been steadily building since breaking through with 2020’s viral favourite “Radio”. Where her debut balanced oddball bedroom pop with hazy ’90s alternative influences, Amulet ventures somewhere darker and grittier, pairing slacker alt-rock, driving rhythms and washed-out guitars with her most poetic and sharpened lyrics yet.
The catalyst for the record arrived unexpectedly after Genovese underwent a spiritual reading while searching for answers about feelings she’d carried since childhood. Rather than offering simple reassurance, the experience opened up a history of inherited pain and healing that became the emotional foundation of Amulet.
Exploring the life of a medieval healer persecuted for her wisdom, the album uses that narrative to reflect on the lasting impact of violence against women, generational trauma, love, identity and the search for self-understanding. Songs such as “Big Boy”, “Black Eyes” and “Serpent” examine the historical persecution of women whose gifts were branded as witchcraft, while drawing connections to feminine identity and our increasingly fractured relationship with the natural world.
Written during sessions in London and Los Angeles with close collaborator Dylan Neustadter, every song began the same way Freak Slug has always written – alone with an acoustic guitar. From there, the arrangements grew instinctively, layering driving basslines, loose, bouncy drums and swirling guitars into a sound that feels simultaneously dreamlike and confrontational.
While the music came naturally, the lyrics became a new creative focus. Scribbled into phone notes on trains, in clubs, at festivals and during late-night journeys home, Genovese challenged herself to write with greater intention. Whether examining feminine power or inherited anger, Amulet ultimately becomes an act of healing as much as storytelling.
Its title reflects that intention. Historically, an amulet served as an object of protection, remembrance or safe passage, something carried across journeys and through generations. Here, it becomes a symbol for the emotional burdens and resilience we inherit, and the possibility of transforming them into something new.
Northern, upfront, introspective and fiercely individual, Amulet expands Freak Slug’s sonic universe without sacrificing the emotional honesty that has always defined her work. It’s an album that marks a major artistic leap from one of British alternative music’s most distinctive voices.
Following the release of Amulet, Freak Slug will take the new record on the road with a packed run of live dates, including appearances at festivals throughout the summer alongside performances at Pitchfork Paris and Pitchfork London later this year. Alongside her 18-date North American headline tour, Freak Slug has also just announced a string of in-store shows across the UK. Tickets are now on sale with full tour dates listed below.
Freak Slug – Amulet Tracklist
- Big Boy
- Wishing Bone
- If I Could
- One Trick Pony
- Penny Drop
- Serpent
- Black Eyes
- Jade Green
- Girl, Intentions
- Then Let Me
- Actress
- Muse
Freak Slug Tour Dates
- August 13 – Stay Out West Festival, Gothenburg, SE
- August 14 – Syd for Solen Fest, Copenhagen, DK
- August 29 – Victorious Festival, Portsmouth, UK
- September 3 – Grand Social Ballroom, Dublin
- September 4 – Ulster Sports Club, Belfast
- September 5 – Psychfest, Manchester
- October 23 – The Fox Cabaret, Vancouver, BC
- October 24 – Neumos, Seattle, WA
- October 25 – Polaris Hall, Portland, OR
- October 27 – The Starlet Room, Sacramento, CA
- October 28 – The Independent, San Francisco, CA
- October 30 – The Roxy, Los Angeles, CA
- October 31 – Farm House Collective, Riverside, CA
- November 1 – Grey Witch, Henderson, NV
- November 3 – Constellation Room, Santa Ana, CA
- November 6 – Pitchfork Paris
- November 7 – Pitchfork London
- November 11 – The Atlantis, Washington, DC
- November 13 – Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA
- November 14 – Elsewhere – The Hall, New York, NY
- November 15 – The Sinclair, Boston, MA
- November 16 – Bar Le Ritz, Montreal, QC
- November 18 – Longboat Hall, Toronto, ON
- November 19 – Lager House, Detroit, MI
- November 20 – Lincoln Hall, Chicago, IL
- November 22 – Corona Capital, Mexico City, MX
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