The apple tree under the sea, hemlocke springs’ highly anticipated debut album, is out today via AWAL —listen here. Alongside the release, the video for album track “be the girl!” debuts today at 10 a.m. PT.
Additionally, hemlocke will embark on a headline tour across North America to celebrate the release this spring and summer, with dates in Los Angeles, Toronto, D.C., Philadelphia and more. She will also appear at major festival stages, making stops at The Governors Ball and Bonnaroo.
Tickets are on sale to the public February 20 at 10 a.m. local time, with artist presale beginning February 17 at 10 a.m. local time. See below for full tour routing and visit hemlockesprings.net for more information.
Alongside co-producer BURNS (Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Charli xcx), hemlocke invites listeners into her most adventurous work yet. She combines daring songcraft with the playful vocals heard on her run of critically praised singles, “w-w-w-w-w,” “head, shoulders, knees, and ankles,” and “the beginning of the end.” Described by FLOOD as “delirious and dizzying alt-pop,” and “medieval” by NYLON, these tracks showcase the maturation of her signature expansive sound. Lead single “the beginning of the end,” was lauded by The Needle Drop as “one of her most wild, varied songs she’s ever done.” This success only adds to a huge year for hemlocke springs, who recently played dates with Chappell Roan and Conan Gray and has been announced for The Governors Ball this summer.
hemlocke’s debut album has been highly anticipated since her emergence in 2022 with songs like “girlfriend,” and “gimme all your love.” Since then, her music has found growing support, with friends and fellow artists from Grimes to Steve Lacy publicly supporting her work. Multi-time GRAMMY winner, Doechii, even lauded hemlocke as “a rockstar.” On her debut album, hemlocke builds on this success while expanding her range and sound.
the apple tree under the sea is a fever dream of a concept album in which our hero, hemlocke springs, sets off on a journey of self-discovery—one that requires her to confront the chaos and repression of her past to claim the full, liberatory life she once didn’t even know was possible. Sprinkled with references to her Christian upbringing with Nigerian immigrant parents, the project begins with her coming across a red apple—a symbol of knowledge or “worldly” things, as hemlocke explains, and then tracks her inner transformation as she unpacks the traumatic memories and long held beliefs that held her back from self-acceptance.
Once upon a time, an artist named hemlocke springs dared to create fantastical worlds by weaving hyper-personal tales into exuberant art-pop anthems. Now residing in the faraway land of Los Angeles, hemlocke was crowned a bedroom pop star in 2022, quickly becoming one of Chappell Roan’s favorite artists, and embarking on tours with fellow world-builders like Doja Cat and Ashnikko. After seeing her career take off while pursuing a master’s in health informatics, hemlocke released her ebulliently eclectic 2023 EP going…going…GONE!, featuring medieval-coded single “sever the blight,” which NMEdubbed “creativity of the highest order.” On the apple tree under the sea, hemlocke invites us into a world born entirely of her imagination. Prepare thyself to be verily charmed for the next chapter.
