The Ophelias Announce New Album Spring Grove

Today, the Ophelias have announced their next album, Spring Grove. The project is set to arrive April 4 via their new label home Get Better Records (ZORA, Flung, Empty Country) and, to commemorate the announcement, the Brooklyn-by-way-of-Cincinnati band has shared the vaporous lead single, “Cumulonimbus.” The making of Spring Grove seems almost fated— a combination of random occurrences and happenstance coincidences that came together with a slight side eye of preordainment. After COVID struck, the band was left unable to tour their 2021 album Crocus, but they had one collaboration in their pocket: Julien Baker, who performs with them on “Neil Young on High.” Yes, that Julien Baker, the Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist and one-third of boygenius.

This was about more than a one-and-done collaboration, though; she wanted to produce the Ophelias’ next record. Once the five of them got to the studio, things got even stranger. Vocalist Spencer Peppet began having dreams of old friends, exes and coworkers and, to top it off, those same people then began reaching out to her (in real life, mind you). By the end of the sessions, Spring Grove had become a refraction of the band itself. Each of the album’s 13 tracks peels back layer upon layer of the human spirit, exposing the fractures, contradictions and quiet revelations that shape each and every one of us. Between its highest intensities and most hushed introspections, there’s a consistent feeling of unraveling—like the collapsed ruins of a building just starting to be reassembled, working until a new clarity is found again.

Baker not only produced the album, but she sang harmonies and filled in on instruments throughout the project, with the initial idea for Spring Grove being to simplify the recording process and create from a place of one-mindedness, not as individual musicians but as a true band. “Cumulonimbus” represents this united approach, featuring washes of violin, driving bass, dreamy synth riffs and Peppet’s delicate yet ascendant vocals.

It’s a track drenched in longing and heartache—and clearly resonant in every note the band plays. Despite the chorus hinting at a story of unrequited romance, Peppet insists that none of the tracks on Spring Grove are about calling-it quits on love, “There’s so much more beyond heartbreak to write about,” and adding that there are “zero songs about break-ups” on the album. While I could never get enough of the way the Ophelias write love songs, I’m eagerly awaiting the new record regardless, and, maybe even more so, I can’t wait to hear how Julien Baker has formed her executive production debut.

In 2024, the Ophelias released Ribbon, and it was not only Peppet, Mic Adams, Gutmann Fuentes and Jo Shaffer’s best work yet, but it wound up as our 7th-best EP of the year. Editor Matt Mitchell wrote that the EP “flourishes like a full-length, setting its own in-betweens ablaze with emotionality arriving mercilessly from every angle.”

Watch the music video for “Cumulonimbus,” see the Ophelias’ upcoming tour dates and check out the artwork and tracklist for Spring Grove below.

Spring Grove Artwork:

Spring Grove Tracklist:
Open Sky
Spring Grove
Cumulonimbus
Vulture Tree
Salome
Parade
Cicada
Forcefed
Crow
Gardenia
Sharpshooter
Say to You
Shapes

The Ophelias’ Upcoming Tour Dates:
Fri. April 4 – Philadelphia, PA @ Milkboy
Sat. April 5 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Broadway (Record Release Show)
Sun. April 6 – Vienna, VA @ Jammin Java
Tue. April 8 – Boston, MA @ The Rockwell Wed.
April 9 – Portsmouth, NH @ Press Room
Thu. May 8 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas
Fri. May 9 – Columbus, OH @ Rumba Café Sat.
May 10 – Lansing, MI @ Stoopfest Sun.
May 11 – Toronto, ON @ The Baby G Tue.
May 13 – Montréal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
Wed. May 14 – Burlington, VT @ Radio Bean