Today, the 24-year-old Minnesota-raised, Vermont-based artist Lutalo (they / them) shares “Oh Well,” a heartbreaking, grungy, cathartic reflection on their mother’s schizophrenia and how it affected their outlook on life. They’ll share their debut album The Academy on September 20 via Winspear, and hit the road with Nilüfer Yana this fall. Listen to “Oh Well” and preorder The Academy here.

On “Oh Well,” with all of their weight, Lutalo leans into the grungiest side of their taste, while staying true to the calming almost blasé way of singing so smoothly. This juxtaposition is no mistake. It’s a learned coping mechanism they’ve adopted – an “it is what it is” attitude that they took on when there were no answers to be found. Heartbreakingly, they learned to quit questioning and to let go of hope…The odd placement of the syllables, the hush and calm in their voice, and the wash of distorted grunge guitars is so viscerally astute… it’s genius in the articulation of a feeling.

In their own words, Lutalo explains that “Oh Well,” “focuses on remembering my parents separation and my mother’s mental instability at a time when I didn’t understand what was going on. She was suffering with heavy schizophrenia and had some episodes that stuck with me. The main idea was to capture the hope that I held onto for my mother to come back into my life as a main figure; witnessing the struggle my father had trying to manage his partner and care for his three children at the same time. She was admitted to a mental health hospital and we had to carry on with our lives.”

They continue, “During that time I’d ask my father about why things were the way they were, he’d try and find an age appropriate answer mostly came to ‘It’s just an unfortunate situation.’ I ended up adopting an ‘it is what it is’ attitude and stopped questioning and holding out hope.”

Watch the video for “Oh Well” here.

According to The Guardian, Lutalo’s got a gift for crafting “fuzzed-out sharp edges reminiscent of TV On The Radio;“ The FADER describes lead single “Ocean Swallows Him Whole” as “a pleasing turn into a surly form of post-punk complete with chugging bass lines and a striking synth rattle,” while the newsletter Inbox Infinity calls it “tastefully updated mid-2000s alt-rock.”

Playing every instrument on The Academy, Lutalo crafts an album that serves as a potent backdrop to their literarily assembled character sketches and personal reckonings. Throughout, Lutalo’s exhibits an earnest and unsentimental curiosity about the world, dredging up empathy for anyone navigating their way through it.

Named after the St. Paul, MN school they attended on scholarship — the same school F. Scott Fitzgerald attended and famously dissected throughout his work — The Academy  marks a period of re-invigoration and self-actualization for Lutalo. Diverging from the gentler sounds of last year’s AGAIN EP or their collab with bedroom pop phenom Claud on “Running” from earlier this year, The Academy is an altogether knottier and bloodier affair that traverses down fresh sonic avenues while maintaining Lutalo’s idiosyncratic voice. What results is a beguiling and visceral amalgam of rock, folk, post-punk, and soul paired with nuanced and humanizing observations on class disparity, privilege, and more informed by their time as an interloper into the elite world of The Academy.

Lutalo will be unveiling these new songs live on a series of UK festival dates before touring with Nilüfer Yanya in North America this fall. See all dates and info below.