Locally-based and globally-talented singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe has been plenty busy since we last heard a new record from her in 2017, when she released the stellar Bad Baby. She's performed concerts at New York Fashion Week, and contributed and composed original music for 2018 independent film Never Goin' Back, as well as the virtual reality short film Oculus.
In the past couple of years, Jaffe also endured some emotional anguish, which led her to write the songs that will make up This is Better Part 1 and Part 2, two different EPs set to be released simultaneously on July 19 via Dallas-based Kirtland Records.
According to a press release announcing the EPs and the release of the new video for "Dark Energy," one of the songs to be included on Part 1, these new songs were written with collaborator Aaron Kelly when Jaffe "was knee-deep in some gnarly heartbreak," she says in the press release. "I needed to keep my brain occupied and writing was, quite literally, the only thing that felt good."
The new video, featuring black and white footage shot by Jaffe herself, shows an ear-bud-wearing woman dancing happily to the song's beat inside a bodega. Her carefree vibe suggests she's successful at keeping the "dark energy" Jaffe sings about a good bit away. With a moody, pulsing, electro groove, "Dark Energy" fits nicely into Jaffe's recorded oeuvre, though it doesn't generically sink into it by any stretch.
This is Better Part 1 and Part 2 will be available on all major digital streaming platforms on July 19. Jaffe will perform at the Texas International Pop Festival 50th Anniversary concert in Lewisville on Aug. 31.