Bolstered by the pandemic-era additions of bassist Nikki “Pickle” Smith and drummer Nick Aguilar, Los Angeles-by-way-of-Indiana rock outfit Frankie and the Witch Fingers come storming back on their new album, “Data Doom”, which will be released September 1st through the Reverberation Appreciation Society and Greenway Records.
The nine-track project was recorded at the band’s L.A. practice space and is led by the single “Mild Davis,” a fusion of grit-encrusted guitars and icy synths set to an odd 7/4 time signature. “That song pretty much sums up the energy of the entire record,” Aguilar has said. “That’s why we felt it would be the most appropriate one to be the lead single.” Adds vocalist/guitarist Dylan Sizemore, “It’s very different from anything we’ve done in the past. We wanted the first statement from the album to be something new and fresh.”
Since Sizemore and guitarist Josh Menashe formed Frankie and the Witch Fingers as a house party band in Bloomington, Ind., in 2013, the quartet has gradually become a heavy hitter in underground rock, punk, and psychedelic circles. The Los Angeles psych-punk quartet Frankie and the Witch Fingers have returned with their seventh studio album “Data Doom”, the band has shared album highlight “Mild Davis” with a mind-bending animated music video. Inspired by Miles Davis’ early-70s electric work, the track’s dizzying 7/4 meter winds through chunky riffs, commanding vocals and proggy synths before crash-landing in a minefield of angular guitar harmonies.
“Art is always a backlash to itself,” Smith says when asked if perhaps younger listeners may be gravitating back to rock’n’roll at a time when pop music feels more sleek and clean than ever. “Everything always goes in cycles, but I feel like people who come see our shows are rowdy as hell. They’re happy to be there. They’re really engaged in what’s happening, so I don’t think rock’n’roll has gone anywhere.”
“Data Doom”, finds Frankie and the Witch Fingers incorporating everything from conga-flecked Afrobeat (“Doom Boom”) to horn-fueled rave-ups (“Burn Me Down,” “Weird Dog”) and propulsive, Devo-style synth-rock (“Futurephobic”). Sizemore credits this newly eclectic sound to the arrival of Smith and Aguilar, two fellow music nerds who came to Frankie and the Witch Fingers from the bands Death Valley Girls and Mike Watt, respectively.
“We’ve got these hidden talents within the band, and we don’t always get to explore them,” Sizemore says. “Because we had so much time in the studio and we had these things lying around, it was really easy to be, like, oh, we need a texture here. Maybe try that? Or, bring in the congas today. It all felt very spontaneous but at the same time, it’s inside everyone to be able to do that.”
The Fat Angel Sings 