Freak Slug announces her sophomore album ‘Amulet’ due for release September 18
Following the release of her critically acclaimed debut album I Blow Out Big Candles, Manchester-born artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist Freak Slug returns with Amulet, her striking second album, arriving September 18 via Future Classic. Alongside the announcement comes new single and video ‘Girl, Intentions’, a brooding, grunge-tinged anthem that captures the raw emotional intensity at the heart of her most fully realised work to date.
‘Girl, Intentions’ began life as a song written for someone else, gradually transforming into an affirmation of self, inspired by the cult classic film Girl, Interrupted. It embraces both the light and darkness that exist within us, while questioning why outspoken women continue to be cast as villains simply for existing authentically. 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 as she explains:
“This first single off my upcoming album Amulet explores the inner turmoil of a woman, with the feminine often represented by the moon as darkness. It’s an ode to myself – feeling the presence and power of one’s soul, dark and light, and seeing in yourself what nobody else can see until you show them what you’re capable of. I’ve had no previous examples of Northern women from Manchester singing like this, so I decided that I want to fucking do it. I love singers with character in their vocals. It’s about leaning into the quirks of your voice instead of trying to make it perfect.”
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.
“This album is more me. I’ve been able to have the space to just be myself. It’s probably the most important body of work I’ve ever done. It’s the best extension of myself that I’ve managed to capture up until this point.”
WATCH ‘GIRL, INTENTIONS’ HERE
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 longtime collaborator Dylan Neustadter, every song began the same way Freak Slug has always written – alone with an acoustic guitar. “You can tell if it’s going to be a good song if you can play it bare bones,”she explains. 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. She has also just announced an 18-date North American headline tour, beginning in Vancouver on October 23 before culminating with a performance at Corona Capital in Mexico City on November 22. Tickets go on general sale tomorrow, Friday 10th July at 10am local time, with full tour dates listed below.
Tracklist:
2. Wishing Bone
3. If I Could
4. One Trick Pony
5. Penny Drop
6. Serpent
7. Black Eyes
8. Jade Green
9. Girl, Intentions
10. Then Let Me
11. Actress
12. 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, 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
Amulet artwork