Ada Lea Releases New Single “Bob Dylan's 115th Haircut”

Ada Lea—the moniker of Montreal-based musician Alexandra Levy— releases “bob dylan's 115th haircut,” the final preview from her new album, when i paint my masterpiece, out Friday via Saddle Creek. Following the “Subtly cinematic, deftly performed and delicately written” (Wonderland) “midnight magic,” “bob dylan's 115th haircut” is a standout track tied to the album title. when i paint my masterpiece playfully references a lesser-known Bob Dylan song that he says describes, “Something that is so supreme and first-rate that you could never come back down from the mountain.” Ada Lea’s invocation of the icon is a meditation on this metaphor of the mountain, and how its potential lives within a brushstroke, a take, a moment of surprise.

Commenting on the track, Levy says: “Sometimes I get into these moods where I feel like there will always be a gap between what I want to say, and what I actually end up writing. I start comparing myself. The mood that evening was comparing myself to Bob Dylan. And why not? In order to pick myself up off the floor after saying things like ‘I could never write a song like Bob Dylan,’ which of course, is true, I had to reverse the thought ‘could he write one like me?’ Whether or not that was a good thing, it was something.” On the track, she sings: “Bob Dylan couldn’t have written this song/ Not even if he wanted to, not even just for fun.”

when i paint my masterpiece is an epic, 16-track opus. It’s a kaleidoscopic exploration of the transformations art can bring: the vision of an uncompromising artist dancing bravely and freely between registers and across mediums. The album marks a reset—a quiet revolution. After years of relentless international touring, Levy felt an urgent need for community and renewal. Gruelling road schedules with very little support left her wondering: who am I really doing all this for? The system was uncaring and broken, and so she envisioned a new healthy and healing mode of musical genesis. Levy went back to school to study painting and poetry, got a job, and began teaching.

The shapely, intuitive songs that comprise Ada Lea's third album are surprising, imagistic, tactile. They stand before us and we feel their brushstrokes. By the end of these sixteen songs, it’s clear: when i paint my masterpiece isn’t chasing perfection, it’s comfortable in the magic of being. These songs are alive with poetic specificity and a wide-open heart—deeply felt, often strange, and always reaching. There’s an optimistic and plainspoken wisdom in the lyrics, building on Ada Lea’s singular songwriting style of surprising harmonic and melodic turns—now with a newly rich, organic sound that rewards slow listening. The masterpiece, not a product, is the process.

Levy will embark on an extensive North American Tour in September following a string of dates in the UK. The tour will see Levy stopping in New York, Chicago, Toronto, Seattle, Los Angeles and more.

Tour Dates

Fri, Aug 16 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club

Sat, Aug 17 - Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade Bristol w/ Allegra Krieger

Sun, Aug 18 - Edinburgh, UK @ Sneaky Pete's w/ Allegra Krieger

Mon, Aug 19 - Glasgow, UK @ Nice n' Sleazy w/ Allegra Krieger

Tue, Aug 20 - Chester, UK @ St. Mary's Creative Space w/ Allegra Krieger

Wed, Aug 21 - London, UK @ Lexington, Line of Best Fit w/ Allegra Krieger

Sun. Aug. 31 — Rouyn-Noranda, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, QC @ FME (Festival de Musique Émergente)

Wed, Sept 10 - Burlington, VT @ Radio Bean

Thu, Sept 11 - Providence, RI @ AS220

Fri, Sept 12 - Catskill, NY - Avalon

Sat, Sept 13 - Turner Falls, MA @ Brick House