Tori Forsyth Announces New Album 'Self Preservation' & Drops Heavy New Single

"I want to be messy," Forsyth said of her new single, 'Today I Woke Up and Chose Violence.'

Tori Forsyth has returned, today announcing her long-awaited new album, Self Preservation.

The Australian grunge-country artist has shared the news following the release of the singles Notice The Roses, Guns and Little Girls, I’m Not God and You and Me. Today, she’s continuing the rollout with one of her favourite songs she’s ever recorded, Today I Woke Up and Chose Violence.

Anchored by noisy, distorted guitars and a driving beat, Forsyth commands with her otherworldly, passionate vocals. It’s a song filled with tension, while as a lyricist, Forsyth balances raw confession with poetic restraint.

She said of the single, “I’m fed up with being treated a certain way as a woman. I want to be loud, and I want to be messy. I wrote this for the girls who want to rage against the machine.

“It's the revolt against your kindness being taken advantage of, good intentions being manipulated, and your benefit of the doubt being exploited. It's the point where enough is enough, feminine rage is born, and everyone's about to meet the father figure in you.”

Check out Today I Woke Up and Chose Violence and the full album tracklist below.

Forsyth’s new album, Self Preservation, will be released on Friday, 9 October, via Island Australia. You can pre-order/pre-save the album here.

A record powered by experiences such as loss, the end of a long-term relationship, and trauma, as well as themes like humankind, religion, mental health, capitalism and belief, she explained further, “Making this record reminded me there is beauty in being human, beauty in the mess, the contradictions and everything else in between.

“Once again, music has saved my life, and I hope people listening can hear themselves somewhere within it.”

Self Preservation was recorded over a two-week period at the Grove Studios with producer Scott Horscroft (Silverchair, Paul Kelly, Birds of Tokyo) along with longtime band members Matthew Newton (guitar), Zachary Miller (bass), and Reece Baines (drums), plus Andy Mak on keys.

Detailing the inspiration of the album, Forsyth shared:

This record is about the preservation of our souls. It's realizing that life is a cycle and there is no finish line once you move through a hard thing. It's more of a continual death and rebirth, and if you fight your own death, it only makes it harder to be reborn.

It's also learning that death isn't final; it's a requirement of being born again into something radically new. And sometimes that looks a little fractured, a little ugly, but the result is always fortifying and necessary.

Preservation of self doesn't mean clinging to past versions of ourselves and hoping they survive death; it's allowing what must die to die and keeping intact the only thing we take with us, on our one final death, which is our souls.

Forsyth’s new album arrives following her recent performance at this year’s CMA Fest and opening for Jackson Dean (USA) and Wade Forster on home soil. Plus, she’s appeared at major events such as Gympie Muster Festival, BIGSOUND, and Groundwater Country Music Festival.