Photo by​ Ben Kaye

Since releasing Ivy Tripp in 2015, Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield has spent some time looking back, releasing an album of early recordings and revisiting her original outfit P.S. Elliot with her twin sister, Allison. This summer, she’ll return the focus to her solo project with a new album entitled Out in the Storm.

Crutchfield broke the news in an interview with Lenny (via Stereogum), in which she described the record as coming out of the end of a toxic relationship. “I don’t want to call it a break-up record, but it was a romantic and professional relationship that fell apart,” she explained. “I had to end it, and it rippled throughout every little corner of my life. Getting on the other side of that and reflecting on the whole spectrum of sadness and anger and resentment, I came out of it and I was a lot closer to myself, which I think is common too.”

She went on to say the album will touch on the concepts of shame and embarrassment, and how examining those emotions can make you a better person in the end. “It reminds me of how sometimes when you’re younger and a confident or outspoken woman and men — or boys — would make you the butt of a joke… It’s embarrassing, but you know that you’re right…,” she said. “I’m describing interactions with a specific person [who] had a tendency to make me feel this way.” By acknowledging that feeling and realizing the relationship needed to be reconsidered, the end result is “almost hopeful.”

Though a tracklist hasn’t been revealed (or a firm release date, for that matter), Crutchfield did mention that a song called “Sparks Fly” will be on Out in the Storm. “That song, it’s one of my favorites that I’ve written ever, I think, lyrically — because it’s just really about me. Most of my songs are about relationships or about another person or how this other person is making me feel. And that song is just about how I feel about myself in a specific moment.” Apparently, the inspiration for the track was one blissful night she spent with her sister in Berlin. After going through some rough times, Crutchfield said, “I just remember that night sort of feeling like I was seeing myself through Allison’s eyes, and she was seeing me as a person who is happy and fun and can laugh and enjoy myself.”

Waxahatchee has already unveiled “Sparks Fly” live, and perhaps more new music will come when she hits the road with The New Pornographers beginning tomorrow, April 18th. Find that complete itinerary here.