Tomberlin Asks Us to Kneel at an ‘Altar for the Feelings’

Tomberlin goes full cottagecore in the video for “Happy Accident,” the first taste of her upcoming album ‘I Don’t Know Who Needs to Hear This…’

The black-and-white clip opens in the woods, while a message about magic once ruling the forest scrolls across the screen. Sarah Beth Tomberlin enters behind a crunchy guitar riff: “What’s the point of this/If I know how it ends?”

“‘Happy Accident’ is a song about relational obscurity,” she said in a statement. “Trying to sort out who you are or who you were to someone. Is this relationship romantic or is it just sex? Do you want to spend time with me or are you just bored? Do I make my own decisions that are good for me or are my decisions predominantly based on what I think you might want or need? I was kind of walking through moments in previous relationships in my life.”

I Don’t Know Who Needs to Hear This… marks Tomberlin’s second album, following her 2018 debut At Weddings. The theme of the record is to “examine, hold space, make an altar for the feelings.”

Tomberlin will tour behind the record — out April 29 — hitting North America in the summer. The tour wraps at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on June 10.