Widely regarded as one of the foremost songwriters of her generation, or any other, Suzanne Vega is sharing a new single, "Rats," along with a music video directed by acclaimed animator and filmmaker Martha Colburn. You can stream/share the video HERE and the track HERE.
"Rats"—a meditation on the rats of New York City—precedes NYC’s Urban Rat Summit, which kicks off tomorrow. The song was written by Vega, with music and production by her longtime guitarist and musical director, Gerry Leonard.
Of the track, which comes from sessions for a forthcoming album, Vega notes, "I was talking to Jimmy Hogarth, the producer of my 2007 album Beauty and Crime. We were discussing who had seen the biggest rat. After that conversation, I kept reading about or hearing various rat stories, all of them true. I took careful note and set it all to music, inspired by The Ramones and Fontaines D.C."
Video director Colburn blends surreal stop-motion with distinctive collage elements. Her films are part of the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Vega will kick off the next leg of her Old Songs, New Songs, and Other Songs tour with a performance at the Bourbon & Beyond Festival in Louisville, KY, on September 19, with dates running throughout the fall. See below for a list of dates. Tickets for all upcoming shows are available for purchase at suzannevega.com/tour.
The 2024 tour follows a busy year of touring in 2023, which saw Vega perform extensively across the US and Europe. Her remaining 2024 dates will offer audiences a career-spanning evening, including a first listen to several songs from her forthcoming album.
Of Vega's performances, The New York Times notes that she "is attentive to the realm of the unseen." Finding Connecticut lauded a recent concert as "nothing short of mesmerizing, weaving tales through her soulful songs in a cozy setting that allowed for a deep connection with the audience."
Vega emerged as a leading figure of the folk-music revival of the early 1980s. Since the release of her self-titled, critically acclaimed 1985 debut album, she has written and recorded numerous songs that have become part of the contemporary music vernacular, including "Luka," "Marlene on the Wall," and "Tom's Diner," an a cappella piece later remixed by U.K. electronic dance duo DNA and transformed into a major club hit. It remains a frequently sampled and covered standard across the musical spectrum. Her albums, including her self-titled debut, Solitude Standing, and 99.9F°, have sold millions of copies worldwide.
Vega’s most recent release, the career-spanning album An Evening of New York Songs and Stories (Amanuensis/Cooking Vinyl), was hailed by the Associated Press as "an excellent Vega primer, an artist who still merits being on your radar no matter what your hometown may be," while Stereogum raved that the album is "a stripped-down, intimate tour through her songbook, highlighting her rich voice and novelistic approach to lyrics."
SUZANNE VEGA, OLD SONGS, NEW SONGS, AND OTHER SONGS TOUR:
- September 19—Louisville, KY—Bourbon & Beyond Festival
- September 21—Wilmington, DE—Baby Grand
- September 22—Sellersville, PA—Sellersville Theater
- September 24—Annapolis, MD—Rams Head On Stage
- September 25—Alexandria, VA—The Birchmere
- September 27—Flushing, NY—Kupferberg Center for the Arts
- September 28—South Orange, NJ—South Orange Performing Arts Center
- September 30—Old Saybrook, CT—The Kate
- October 1—Old Saybrook, CT—The Kate
- October 4—Kingston, NY—Old Dutch Church
- October 5—Great Barrington, MA—The Mahaiwe PAC
- October 6—Groton, MA—Hill Music Center
