Dre Babinski of Steady Holiday has announced her fourth album, Newfound Oxygen today. The announcement arrives alongside the heart-rending, lilting first single “Can’t Find A Way”, which can be heard now below.
Of the video accompanying video, Dre says, “I wanted to make a video that was far less literal than the song itself, but externalized the same emotional core – that the world as I know it is suddenly disoriented. We brought to life the scene from the single’s artwork with fishing wire, blowdryers, and a platform that shifted to a 45 degree angle that the camera and table/chair was mounted to. I had to hold on for dear life.”
Directed by Isaac Ravishankara, the video uses practical effects to shift elements in the home as it falls off-kilter, to indicate the cognitive dissonance and sense of loss that can occur with letting go of unhealthy vices.
Newfound Oxygen is a clear-eyed reckoning with the hard lessons of growing up and learning to live sustainably. The directness of both Babinski’s songwriting and production by Ari Balouzian (Gabriels, Midnight Sister) compliment the album’s ethos of taking a breath and staying grounded in reality.
Steady Holiday is the solo vehicle for Los Angeles singer-songwriter Dre Babinski’s deeply personal and cinematic storytelling. Characterized by her featherlight voice and sweeping strings (played by Babinski herself), Steady Holiday elegantly sways between plainspoken and profound. Babinski spent over a decade collaborating in bands and performing as a touring multi-instrumentalist before Steady Holiday was born with her 2016 debut, Under The Influence, produced by Gus Seyffert (Roger Waters, Bedouine, Beck). What followed were opportunities supporting artists including Mitski and Dr. Dog, multiple appearances at Coachella, and an endorsement with Yamaha Guitars. Her politically-observant sophomore album, Nobody’s Watching was released in 2018 (Barsuk), followed by 2021’s Take The Corners Gently, a call for compassion and humility framed by the effects of illness in her family.