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Dec 05, 2023 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Cole Nielsen

Early next year, indie singer/songwriter Lizzie No is set to return with their new album, Halfsies. The record is their first since their 2019 album, Vanity, and finds them settling into an equally unsparing and thoughtful space, coloring their poetic songwriting with intricate guitar and harp arrangements elevated to a sprawling scale. As No describes, the record was imagined as a video game following their main character, “Miss Freedomland,” as they navigate the dark and dangerous travails of American life and move towards liberation.

No has already shared their first two singles, “Lagunita” and “The Heartbreak Store,” and today they’re back with another new track, “Annie Oakley,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Annie Oakley” is a stirring and cinematic effort, with No evoking a long lineage of stately heartland rock road songs. It finds Miss Freedomland taking to the road, inhabiting the stretches of America where it seems the dark highways are neverending. No’s steady acoustic strums and marching drums propel the track forward at a steady clip as they are slowly joined by swells of distortion and country-tinged harmonies, lifting the track higher.

As the instrumentation fills out, the road-worn sensibility gives way to a sense of resolute drama, as if No’s character is looking forward past their present uncertainty into the future. They sing, “I’m counting up my tips / Is there enough for half a tank? / Cause little Black girls better move along when the sun goes down in this part of the country / Waiting by the side of the highway / Oh come on inside–sit at my feet / Won’t you tell me when it’s time to kill the dream.”

No says of the track, “Most of the great songwriters in the Americana genre have darkly determined road songs featuring dirty motels, gas station coffee, the exhilaration of seeing America’s plains rushing toward them from behind a car windshield as if on a roller coaster designed by Willa Cather, bleak club shows, and tequila for dinner. Behind the scenery are some difficult questions, like ‘why have I chosen to do this with my life?’ and ‘will I ever be one of the greats?.’ Miss Freedomland also has to ask herself if deadbolting the motel door is enough, or if she should wedge a chair under the door handle as well. To get to the next level she must sing the new classics to her people. And carry a knife.”

Check out the song below. Lizzie No’s new album, Halfsies, is out January 19th via Thirty Tigers.