Ali Barter to play in Birmingham

Two years on from her blistering debut A Suitable Girl in 2017, the singer-songwriter has announced her triumphant return with Hello, I’m Doing My Best - a revealing collection of songs that track her most formative relationships.

Hello, I’m Doing My Best is set for release on October 18, via [PIAS]. And before that, she will be in the Second City on October 1 at The Sunflower Lounge to promote it.

She has also released her first ever love song, Backseat, as her latest single.

It is also accompanied by a promotional video directed by Anna Phillips – who also worked with her on her previous video. It sees Ali weave through a comedy of errors with long-time collaborator and husband, Holy Holy’s Oscar Dawson. Ali describes the video as being about "two awkward people that get together one night at a bar”.

“A girl admires a boy from afar but when she meets him they are so clumsy and over-eager that they end up injuring each other during a late night jam session,” she adds. “It's just like love really. A mess.”

And speaking about the differences between her two full-length releases, Barter said: “The first record came out and for some reason I rejected it. It’s too polished and my voice is too.”

Barter pushed herself away from music, determined to never write another song. But: "Stuff started coming up and I couldn't push it down."

Despite feeling like she "wasn't ready" for what these songs were saying, her and Dawson went about recording and testing the limits of her surprising new songs. She heard something in them she'd realised she didn't need to fight anymore. "When we demoed them up, I was like, ‘Oh, there I am’. The thing I was pushing against was me."

Barter has toured relentlessly, completing two sold-out headline tours, countless festival slots and supported The Rubens, The War On Drugs, The Jezabels, Stevie Nicks, and Chrissie Hynde.

Tickets to Ali Barter’s show at The Sunflower Lounge, costing £8.80, are available from Birmingham Promoters.