Bnny lingers on the bittersweet beauty of “Breaking Up”

Bnny, the perpetually tearjerking project of Chicago singer-songwriter Jess Viscius, has returned with a single called “Breaking Up.” The new track follows January’s “I’m Just Fine” as the band’s second offering since the release of their debut studio LP, Everything, both in our chronological concept of time and in its adherence to their heartbreak-core aesthetic.

But where both Everything and “I’m Just Fine” gave Viscius space to grieve the passing of her partner, who died in 2017 due to an accidental overdose of fentanyl-laced heroin, today’s track is apparently about a more quotidian, less permanent parting. “‘Breaking Up” is “yet another breakup song,” Viscius explains in a press release, “a reflection of my past and present.” Anchored by a gentle 6/4 drum beat and some delicately mic’d acoustic strumming, Viscius sounds alternately like Adrianne Lenker and Angel Olsen, though her own breathy stylings are distinctly clear throughout the three-minute cut. “I’m looking at photos / Remembering when,” she sings on the song’s pithy hook. “Breaking up and making up and / Breaking up again.”

Watch the visualizer for “Breaking Up” and view the remaining schedule for Bnny’s European tour —including solo gigs and sets in support of fellow Chicagoans Dehd — below.

November 2 - Milan, IT - Circolo Magnolia *
November 3 - Aarau, CH - KiFF *
November 5 - Paris, FR - Les Trois Baudets
November 7 - Copenhagen, DK - Loppen *
November 8 - Stockholm, SE - Kristallen *
November 9 - Oslo, NE - John Dee *
November 11 - Hamburg, DE - Molotow *
November 13 - Kortrijk, BE - Sonic City Festival
November 14 - London, UK - St. Pancras Old Church

* with Dehd