Brandi Carlile sets deluxe album 'Returning to Myself' for September 25

Brandi Carlile will release Returning To Myself (Sad Gay Version) on September 25 via Interscope Records/Lost Highway, an expanded, reimagined edition of her album Returning To Myself. The collection reworks all 10 original songs, with Carlile returning to Long Pond Studio to co-produce four tracks with The National's Aaron Dessner.

The set also includes a collaboration with composer and electronic musician Jon Hopkins on the single "Human," plus a new version of Billy Joel's "And So It Goes." Carlile explained the "Sad Gay" subtitle by describing a genre she has always been drawn to, naming R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts," the Indigo Girls' "Language Or the Kiss" and Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" as songs she'd sit at the edge of her bed listening to as a teenager: "You don't have to actually be gay to let it break your heart into a thousand pieces, it will do that against your will."

The original Returning To Myself explored what Carlile has called a profound journey around solitude and self-avoidance. "I reimagined this album in this way because I want to be brought back to the edge of my bed again and I want to bring you with me," she said. "This one is for us... the sad gays wherever you are."

The 21-track deluxe edition adds 11 reworked "Sad Gay Version" cuts to the original 10-song sequence. It arrives as Carlile's Human Tour continues; the tour's second leg opened with a sold-out show at Portland, Maine's Cross Insurance Arena the night before the album's announcement, and continues across the US into the fall before heading to Europe next spring.

Returning To Myself (Sad Gay Version) is due out September 25 digitally. It's tracked on the release calendar, part of this week's new country and rock announcements.