Scout Gillett today announced her debut album no roof no floor will be released on October 28th, 2022, via Captured Tracks. Lead single “signal” is an enticing preview, out now alongside a cheeky, self-directed video that follows Scout as a film noir-styled detective and a mischievous mime around her hometown of Brooklyn, NY. no roof no floor further showcases the striking, sprawling sonics and resonant vocals introduced on her debut EP, one to ten, released via Captured Tracks in April to praise and support from The FADER, Brooklyn Vegan, Under the Radar, Rolling Stone UK, CLASH, and more. “I wrote this song when I was over-anticipating the outcome of a newly formed romance,” says Scout of “signal.” “I was searching for answers and looking for signals to affirm the love, rather than just letting go and letting things be.”
Of the video, she adds: “I chose to make the object of desire a sandwich rather than a lover…I wanted to channel the slapstick work of Charlie Chaplin. I never end up finding the sandwich, just the mime pretending to chow down. I think lightness is achieved by letting go and embracing uncertainty. As in the video, which ends in laughter and acceptance, there is joy in surrender.”Scout has also confirmed U.S. summer tour dates, including 3 hometown shows (Brooklyn’s TV Eye on 7/29, Sultan Room on 9/15, and The Broadway on 9/24) and a release day celebration at Union Pool. See below for a full itinerary of confirmed dates. no roof no floor is now available forpre-order.
While “home” can be a tough thing for Scout Gillett to pinpoint, she found her place in Brooklyn’s DIY scene in 2017 after relocating from Kansas City, playing in multiple live bands and even starting her own booking company to organize local shows. Her intrepid nature results from a childhood spent running barefoot through rural Missouri and coming of age in Kansas City’s punk scene, and her debut solo album features shades of all these past and present lives. no roof no floor is a bold and spirited yet warm, intimate meditation on trust, surrender, and what makes a home.
Following the sudden overdose of a lover in 2018 and the onset of the 2020 quarantine, Scout returned to Missouri in search of reprieve. Instead, she was dismayed to find that her hometown was suffering; friends and family members were caught in the grips of drug and alcohol addiction.“Nothing was as I’d remembered,” she says. “I felt homesick for a home that no longer seemed to exist.” She channeled her fears and frustrations, as she always had, into songwriting. “I meditated on surrender,” she says; “I recited the serenity prayer. I realized that I’d never be able to save anybody but myself.”
The resulting collection of songs was far more vulnerable than any of her previous work, but when Nick Kinsey (the album’s producer) called from his recording studio (The Chicken Shack in Stanfordville, New York) saying his friends Ellen Kempner (Palehound) and David Lizmi (MS MR) were interested in working on an album with her, Scout knew it was time to share it with the world. “I woke up and wrote ‘trust’ on my hand every day I was recording. I pushed myself to trust the unknown, and trust that I had a message I was ready to share with people.”
Recorded in a big wooden barn with the doors wide open, there’s a sense of spaciousness on no roof no floor befitting its title. The arrangements, too—which feature contributions from Kempner, Lizmi, and Kevin Copeland (The Big Net)—reflect Scout’s rural roots and her indie spirit; a fusion of upbeat, guitar-driven melodies and folk/country instrumentation like pedal steel, harmonica, and tenor banjo. All of these elements are underpinned by Scout’s signature soaring, velvet vocals and open-hearted lyricism – she sails from a hushed whisper to dulcet spoken word to a cathartic belt with ease.
Above all, there’s a strength in the vulnerability of this record. The pain is on full display, but so is the love as Scout presents herself as an artist to watch in the year ahead.
