Cut Worms, the project of Max Clarke, announces his fourth full-length record, “Transmitter“, due for release in March via Jagjaguwar. Produced by Jeff Tweedy at Wilco’s Loft studio, “Transmitter” marks a deepening of Clarke’s abilities and the convergence of two artists whose work searches for grace amid dislocation. Together, they conjure the ecstatic spirits of power pop and alt rock, expanding Cut Worms’ vintage palette while reaffirming his gift for timeless songwriting. These are songs shaped by the myth of self-reliance, where people sold the idea of connection through technology have been reduced to quiet transmitters—data points bought and sold, manipulated and measured, their lives distorted through the very networks meant to unite them.
Clarke says of the album, “The stories in these songs are equal parts innocence and experience—dealing with the ecstatic moments of being freshly enamored with the world as well as the isolation and seclusion that can come after. On view are the unseen inner sanctums of quiet daily life—the private worlds that people inhabit, where they don’t or can’t let anyone else in. It is not a uniquely American phenomenon, but it does seem prevalent here, rooted in the mythos of rugged individualism and the idea that each person must be strong enough to make it on their own or die.”
Today also sees the release of the finely-crafted “Windows on the World,” featuring Tweedy on electric guitars and bass and Glenn Kotche on percussion. The song wrestles with American disillusionment, its melancholy drifting somewhere between Elliott Smith and Miracle Legion, and arrives alongside a video shot on the streets of New York and directed by Caroline Gohlke.
Cut Worms will be embarking on a U.S. tour this spring
The Fat Angel Sings 