Jensen McRae signs to Dead Oceans and shares new single, "Massachusetts"

“I don’t have main character syndrome,” McRae says, “so much as I have narrator syndrome.” The new single, "Massachusetts" began as a short social post, one of many she has shared in pretty much realtime. It spawned numerous covers, interpretations, duets and even titles - the song became known as #videogames or #christianbale by growing hordes of fans imagining completed versions - before finally arriving as McRae’s first release on Dead Oceans.

McRae has also announced a UK live show at St Pancras Old Church, London, on 7 August.

Ahead of its release, fans were already singing the song back to McRae across arenas, where she was on tour supporting Noah Kahan. While McRae was hesitant to make something more of the song at first, ultimately, she decided to complete it, setting out to “honor the original impulse” without over-attending to it. She’s quick to acknowledge that tension. “I’m not a perfectionist,” McRae says, “but I don’t want to put something out there that doesn’t feel true to me, or true to what it is.” McRae ultimately finished “Massachusetts” while on tour, deep in that mode of impermanence.