A PRELUDE TO THEIR UPCOMING ALBUM MY HEART IS AN OUTLAW
Massachusetts-based producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Casey Dienel makes a bold return with their new single “Your Girl’s Upstairs”, the first taste of their forthcoming seventh album, My Heart Is An Outlaw, due later this year. Known for their vivid lyricism, inventive production, and shape-shifting pop sensibility, Dienel continues to push boundaries with a deeply personal, sonically daring track that explores autonomy, queerness, and emotional labour with both bite and grace.
A roadhouse reverie built on echoing guitars and stacked vocals, “Your Girl’s Upstairs” features the unmistakable guitar work of meg duffy (Hand Habits) and contributions from bassist Spencer Zahn and drummer Max Jaffe. What begins with a hypnotic percussive loop unfolds into a layered, emotionally charged portrait of intimate contradiction. “It grins knowingly and keeps walking,” Dienel says of the song, which is as much a kiss-off as it is a reckoning.
“I’m not a domesticated creature,” Dienel shares. “During lockdown, it felt like everyone was ENM or poly or GGG — but still playing out the most toxic hetero main character storylines. These unreconciled contradictions inside duel it out, but neither wins. I am all of them: an incorrigible flirt, a romantic, a cranky homebody, and an unapologetic perv.”
The song’s chorus bristles with clarity and cool defiance: “She played house, played dead, played anything to keep your head from crying.” It’s a slice and a salve — delivered with the staunchness and grace of a boxer, yet never losing its melodic tenderness.
My Heart Is An Outlaw is Dienel’s first full-length release in eight years and marks their first-ever studio-recorded album. Written over several years and recorded in Los Angeles, New York, and Vermont, the album explores freedom, queerness, memory, and radical presence. Co-produced with Adam Schatz (Japanese Breakfast, Neko Case), the record features a vibrant roster of collaborators including Carly Bond (Meernaa), meg duffy, Spencer Zahn, Max Jaffe, and post-production heavyweights Jake Aron (Solange, Snail Mail) and Heba Kadry (Björk, Sade).
Influenced by My Own Private Idaho and the widescreen pop of Born in the U.S.A., My Heart Is An Outlaw trades perfectionism for connection, revealing a raw, exuberant declaration of queer love and self-determination.
“The heart has a mind of its own,” Dienel reflects. “It’s the thing holding you back that you have to set free on your own time, in your own way.”
Over two decades, Dienel has carved out a singular place in independent music, first under their name and previously as White Hinterland, earning praise from Rolling Stone, NME, and Spin. With My Heart Is An Outlaw, they turn the page yet again, inviting listeners into a bold new chapter of musical and personal transformation.