Julie Odell has been a luminary of New Orleans’ tight-knit folk and indie rock scenes for years, a brilliant songwriter with a voice that can silence a packed room in seconds. On Wednesday, she announced her debut studio LP, Autumn Eve, due out September 30 via Frenchkiss Records. Its lead single, “Cardinal Feather,” is a sprawling mini-suite that’s been a long-running staple of her live show, retooled in the studio as a tighter, more polished piece. But the song’s unwieldy appeal survives its new professional setting.

The instruments on the track, working in furious synchronicity, charge through the track’s fast parts and create a restless tension during slow sections before abandoning tempo altogether in the song’s happily rootless second half. Meanwhile. Odell’s nimble vocals flit above and below the surface of the other sounds, mirroring her guitar one moment before soaring high above it the next. “I can’t help but live intensely with every single breath / I’m so in love with life, I love with all my might,” she sings during a speedy passage — words that would fall flat if delivered with less intensity. “No weapon shall prosper while aiming at me,” she repeats later on as the song slows, projecting the same unflinching confidence.

It’s hard to reckon these bold, convincing proclamations with the fact that the track was written in the throes of a personal crisis. “‘Cardinal Feather’ was born out of a panic attack,” Odell explains. “It’s about finding support in the dark times and finding the strength within to be gentle with yourself. It’s about accepting help when you need it and not being ashamed for needing it. It can be hard to feel seen when you can’t fully recognize yourself in moments of extreme anxiety and confusion. I’m thankful for the people who have stuck around after all the moments like this that I’ve had, along with so many others.”

Watch Odell’s gorgeous, self-directed new video for “Cardinal Feather” — filmed on the swamps near Lafayette, Louisiana and further south toward the coast — and view her upcoming European tour dates below.

November 15 – Manchester, UK – Low Four
November 16 – London, UK – The Lexington
November 19 – Besancon, FR – La Rodia *
November 20 – Belfort, FR – La Poudrière *
November 22 – Paris, FR – Café De La Danse *
November 23 – Lorient, FR – L’Hydrophone *
November 24 – La Rochelle, FR – La Sirene *
November 25 – Vienna, AT – Bluebird Festival

* with Black Sea Dahu