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Karen O’s Solo LP ‘Crush Songs’ Revisits Youthful ‘Love Crusade’

Karen O 'Crush Songs' Solo Album Yeah Yeah Yeahs Cult Records

Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is finally releasing a proper solo album. Titled Crush Songs, the record is due out September 9 via Julian Casablancas’ label, Cult Records. As O tells it in a handwritten note posted to her website, which you can also read below, the songs were written and recorded in private when she was around 27 years old, a time when she didn’t know if she’d ever fall in love again. Now 35, she’s married to director Barnaby Clay.

Of course, this isn’t Karen’s first foray away from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who graced SPIN’s cover last year when releasing Mosquito. She crafted the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack in 2009 with ex-boyfriend Spike Jonze, and re-teamed with him last year for the Oscar-nominated “The Moon Song,” which was featured in the movie Her. There’s also her Trent Reznor collaboration (a lil’ old cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”) and her recent yodeling on Walkmen member Walter Martin’s kids song “Sing to Me.” 

Most interesting is the fact that these new songs match up with the timeframe of her leaked demo KO at Home, which was recorded a gift for YYY’s producer and TV on the Radio multi-instrumentalist Dave Sitek. The LP was never intended for release, but someone found it in a suitcase Sitek left behind after moving out of an aparment and shared it online. There’s no word if this is a proper version of the demo, but at the least, we can expect that the Crush Songs share some DNA with KO at Home

Meanwhile, check out the Crush Songs cover art and Karen O’s note below, and pre-order the limited-edition numbered, autographed vinyl copy now.