On July 17, singer-songwriter Samantha Crain will celebrate the release of her fourth full-length effort, Under Branch & Thorn & Treevia Ramseur Records.

The new record follows Crain's highly-acclaimed Kid Faceand finds her focused on the plights of the working class. The lead track from the LP, "Outside the Pale," examines Crain's "disdain for the small minority of elite people who are still capable of controlling the definitions of morality in our society," according to a press release.

You can listen to the new track (courtesy of Stereogum) below:

In that same press release, Crain admits that she doesn't write protest songs "in the traditional sense, but I'm always listening to the voices of people around me." She says the stories told throughout Under Branch & Thorn & Tree are from "the perspective of the underdog, the 99 percent of us that are working people."

Crain partnered with producer John Vanderslice for the new disc and the two recorded it in just 10 days. "I like to work that quickly," she says of the process, and it seems Vanderslice would agree.

Audiophiles will be excited to know that Under Branch & Thorn & Tree was recorded straight to two-inch tape on a Studer 24-track machine and "mixed down to 1/2-inch tape on an Ampex machine," making it an all-analog release. In support of that, the record -- which was mastered by the legendary engineer Bernie Grundman -- will be available on 200-gram vinyl.

Ahead of the album's release, Crain will hit the road throughout May. You can find her full itinerary here, and pre-orders for Under Branch & Thorn & Tree are currently available at this location.

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