There Will Be No Intermission


There Will Be No Intermission is the third solo studio album by American musician Amanda Palmer. It was released on March 8, 2019, through Cooking Vinyl. It was crowdfunded through Patreon and recorded by Palmer in collaboration with John Congleton over the course of a month. It was supported by a 2019–2020 tour. The vinyl version of the album was released on March 29, 2019.

Background

Palmer stated that "Most of these songs were exercises in survival. This isn't really the record that I was planning to make. But loss and death kept happening in real-time, and these songs became my therapeutic arsenal of tools for making sense of it all." She also said that "The kind of stories that I'm sharing on this record—abortion, miscarriage, cancer, grief, the darker sides of parenthood—have been therapeutic and frightening to write."
The cover art is allusive to Virgin Steele's 1985 album Noble Savage.

Promotion

The demos of "Bigger on the Inside", "The Thing About Things", "A Mother's Confession", "Machete", "Drowning in the Sound", and "Judy Blume" were all released as promotional singles on March 9, 2015, May 26, 2015, February 25, 2016, March 9, 2016, August 31, 2017, and February 12, 2018, respectively. "Judy Blume" and "Look Mummy, No Hands" were previously included on the 2013 live album An Evening with Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer. "Judy Blume" also received a music video on February 12, 2019.
"The Ride" was previewed with a performance on NPR's All Things Considered on February 13, 2019.

Singles

The studio version of "Drowning in the Sound" was released as the first official single from the album along with the album pre-order on December 11, 2018. A music video was released on August 8, 2019.
"Voicemail for Jill" was released as the second single on February 19, 2019. A music video for the song was released on March 7, 2019.

Reception

The album has received a score of 78/100 from media aggregate site Metacritic based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Track listing

All songs written by Amanda Palmer, except where noted

Personnel

Taken from the album's liner notes.

Musicians

  • Amanda Palmer – vocals, piano, ukulele, organ, synths
  • Crystal Brooke Alforque – violin
  • Laurann Angel – violin, viola
  • Jherek Bischoff – double bass, guitar, vibraphone, prepared piano, sub bass synth, cymbals, bass drum, backing vocals
  • John Congleton – drums, synths, sequencing
  • Madeline Falcone – violin, viola
  • Nicole Garcia – violin, viola
  • April Guthrie – cello
  • Max Henry – synths
  • Paris Hurley – violin, viola
  • Rachel Iba – violin, viola
  • Jodie Landau – vibraphone, glockenspiel
  • Aniela Marie Perry – cello
  • Joey Waronker – drums
  • Jason Webley – accordion
  • The "Baby Didn't Die" Choir: Anthony Palacios, Carly D. Weckstein, Charlotte Kaufman, David Goren, Ian Michaels, Jherek Bischoff, Joy Craig, Kale Chase, Lisa Schneider, Marvel Star de la Cruz, Michelle Gibson, Paul Bellatoni, Phoebe Pinder, Sara Bartel, Simon Vance, Theresa Richardson, Vanessa Rodriguez, Xine Trevino

Technical

  • Amanda Palmer – writer
  • Jherek Bischoff – instrumental arrangement and mixing, string arrangement, recording
  • Greg Calbi – mastering
  • John Congleton – producer, mixing, engineer
  • Ben Folds – "songwriting help"
  • Tyler Karmen – studio assistant
  • Dillie Keane – writer
  • Jaron Luksa – recording, violin, violin, and cello recording

Artwork

  • Allan Amato – sleeve photography
  • Regina Harris – stylist for insert photography
  • Kahn & Selesnick – insert photography
  • Andrew Nelson – album artwork designer
  • "Piano Stewards": Ngo'e Crossan, Julias Ross Bright, Philip Marshall, Nico Deslis, Joe Yarabek, Ben Ranes
  • "Library Department": Justine Marzack, Ash Gaiman

Tour

Throughout 2019 and 2020, Palmer embarked on the There Will Be No Intermission World Tour. The over four-hour long show featured a mix of both songs and storytelling themed around Palmer's personal life. The Los Angeles performance, as well as the December 13 and 14th London shows, were recorded exclusively for her Patrons on Patreon. On March 14, 2019, Palmer performed a three-hour excerpt of There Will Be No Intermission at Central Presbyterian Church, as part of the SXSW Music Festival.