diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0dc75b74d..4264de139 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # Unreleased
 
+* Fix deadlock in release builds (introduced in 0.13.1).
 
 # 0.13.1
 
diff --git a/crates/zng-var/src/util.rs b/crates/zng-var/src/util.rs
index 651c35157..426a950be 100644
--- a/crates/zng-var/src/util.rs
+++ b/crates/zng-var/src/util.rs
@@ -491,6 +491,7 @@ fn apply_modify<T: VarValue>(inner: &RwLock<VarDataInner<T>>, modify: impl FnOnc
     let mut value = VarModify::new(&meta.value);
     modify(&mut value);
     let (notify, new_value, update, tags, custom_importance) = value.finish();
+    drop(meta);
 
     // code size optimization, removes the impl FnOnce generic
     fn finish<T: VarValue>(