En directo en Thalia Hall (Chicago): Ruby Waters - Suppre$$ions North America Tour

Ruby Waters has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 per ticket goes to supporting communities in need with access to essential, life-saving resources, including clean water and other basic needs. From her home in the BC mountains, Canadian singer-songwriter Ruby Waters rattles off the definition of the phrase , "rdquo" -> to suppress." , "rdquo" -> It's the act of holding back or preventing something from developing, functioning, being seen or being expressed," she reads. It's a definition she's found deeply relatable over the last couple years. , "rdquo" -> A lot of that is what the album is about: hanging on to old habits and stopping myself from becoming the best version of myself," Waters explains. , "rdquo" -> It's also about the pressures of being seen by the world and wanting to hide like a little crab underwater in a safe little shell. Or the opposite, being weighed down almost underwater by suppressed emotions." Waters poured those feelings into her sophomore album SUPPRE$$IONS (out via Wet Records). Written mostly from this same house in the mountains, the smokey voiced singer dives into the dark waters of how her vices and the pressures of the world began to overwhelm her. She takes it literally on the album cover, wearing a collection of fishing lures as earrings and nose rings, and being lifted by a hook out of the water on the back cover. , "rdquo" -> I've been dealing with addiction and mental health issues for a very long time," she admits. , "rdquo" -> This album stems from wanting to change or being in limbo between wanting to change and building up the courage to do so." She states, , "rdquo" -> It's an acceptance album. Accepting all of these feelings, wants, and needs instead of suppressing them." Written and recorded with her longtime collaborators Sam Jackson Willows (The Beaches, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie), Harper (Burna Boy, Russ), TJ Whitelaw (John Legend, Syd) and mastering engineer Alec Ness (Alabama Shakes, Sam Smith) over the last two years, her 20-song opus honestly admits to many of the distractions and habits that she's used to escape her real life: sex, drugs, nature, and rock'n'roll. The candor comes with maturity as the artist details these crutches alongside her path away from some of them. , "rdquo" -> There are some deeper songs and some more fun ones, all mostly fueled with vices," she explains. Caught in the middle is album opener , "rdquo" -> SAME MISTAKES," a vulnerable, dreamy prologue that sets the tone for Waters' story. , "rdquo" -> I'm talking about being a piece of shit and not trying hard enough," she details. The hypnotic, soulful track recounts the loop she's been in: half-hearted attempts at changing her life that lead her right back to where she started. On a song like , "rdquo" -> OFTEN," she takes the cyclical nature of these experiences literally in the music, using sonics to replicate the experience of waking up from a bender and feeling your brain loop with regrets.