Since the inception of Anxious in 2016, the band has always acted with purpose. This may seem like a simple premise, but for five kids still in high school at the time, it’s quite an accomplishment. Early songs were packaged in limited run demo tapes with accompanying zines and hand-dyed t-shirts. Weekends were filled with regional runs of shows outside of their Fairfield, Connecticut home base. With this amount of effort it’s no wonder that within a few years of graduation, Anxious has built a solid foundation for their debut album to flourish upon.
On “Little Green House”, Anxious explores what it feels like to enter adulthood in unflinching detail. The Connecticut band unpacks struggles, joys, and hard-earned realizations in a way that makes them feel wise beyond their years. Anthemic songs like lead single “In April” and guaranteed sing-along “Growing Up Song” thread the often difficult melodic-hardcore needle in a way that feels both nostalgic for the emo renaissance of yesteryear and precisely built for the current moment of genre defiant pioneering.
Anxious’ ability to seamlessly blend raw, emotional punk, with soaring melodies and anthemic choruses has been drawing praise from the likes of Stereogum, The FADER, Revolver Magazine, BrooklynVegan, Uproxx, Paste, and more. “…remarkably accomplished and versatile for such a young band. The songwriting is tight and dynamic, the production clean yet visceral.” – Stereogum (Album of The Week)
“…some of the most gorgeous, immediate emo in recent memory…” – BrooklynVegan
“Anxious has an easy confidence in their melodic, even poppy sound, while also not being afraid to lean into the influences of the hardcore scene that birthed them…” – The Alternative
It won’t be long until the next Bandcamp fees-free Friday (thanks Bandcamp) so here’s advance warning: we’ll be releasing at least two more gatefold singles , namely a pair of BBC sessions by the very wonderful Weather Prophets. One for Janice Long, one for John Peel. Cover photos by Bleddyn Butcher.
Both with the usual postcards, downloads, sleeve notes. The sessions include some of their most beloved songs, plus a totally unreleased track in “Love Song No.1“. Long-term fans will recognise it immediately – they used to open with it a lot. Pete Astor has no idea why they never released it.
Recorded before the group had recorded even a single, this is the 1985 debut session by Creation stalwart Pete Astor’s post-Loft project, released in full for the first time. The nearly-hit single “Almost Prayed”. Also included are sleeve notes from Pete Astor, free downloads of original BBC files and a set of postcards.
Recorded before the group had recorded even a single, this is the 1985 debut session by creation stalwart Pete Astor’s released in full for the first time.
features a totally unreleased track in live favourite “Love Song No.1“, plus early versions of other songs and the nearly-hit single almost prayed.
love song no. 1
24 years (head over heels)
lighthouse room (wide open arms)
i almost prayed
one of Creation boss Alan Mcgee’s favourite bands, the weather prophets were regulars at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios, where they recorded this never-before-released four-song session for John Peel late in 1986 featuring early versions of singles hollow heart and she comes from the rain.
This never-before-released four-song session for John Peel late in 1986 featuring early versions of singles “Hollow Heart” and “She Comes From The Rain”. Also included are sleeve notes from Pete Astor, free downloads of original BBC files and a set of postcards.
swimming pool blue
hollow heart
she comes from the rain
faithful
Here endeth the message. Oh, nearly forgot – let’s make this precious.
Glasgow band Admiral Fallow fronted by singer Louis Abbott,Louis joined by Sarah Hayes and Kevin Brolly Most of us met while studying in Glasgow and we started the band pretty soon after that. We used to knock about at the same open mic nights and gigs in the city. Since then we’ve released three records and been fortunate enough to travel around a fair bit.
Louis [Abbott] is the main songwriter for the band, and his lyrics often take real life events as a starting point. As individuals we’re all involved in a few different musical projects, and these experiences can inform what we do when we’re together. I think we’re at the stage now where we know each other’s playing really well – we generally understand each other when it comes to suggesting musical ideas to try out. Our music has been described as ‘orchestral-indie-pop’ which is probably as good a summary as any!.
Our fourth album, The Idea Of You, is out on Friday 5th November on Glasgow’s legendary Chemikal Underground. It feels like a kind of consolidation of the various ways of working that we’ve tried over the years. Louis’ lyrics are at the heart of things and the rest of us bring our own musical identities into the mix. Paul Savage produced the record. We’ve worked with him on all our albums and as always he’s brought his outstanding ears and studio wizardry to proceedings. As well as crafting arrangements and production ideas, we’ve also tried to capture performance and personality, and worry less about imperfections than we might have in the past. We recorded more of it live than previously and ended up keeping a lot of those spontaneous moments and guide parts.
Louis usually sends a rough demo of a song or part-song and we take it from there. We spent a week away in the Highlands back in 2017, taking some concentrated time to play through the songs in the room together and seeing what appeared. We made some more live demos and worked on parts separately at home before meeting up again. Sometimes we’ll discuss a few key musical reference points, but that tends to happen more during the studio recording.
We’ve done a few live gigs so far since the summer and they’ve all been different. I think it’ll probably feel a bit strange to be back in a ‘normal’ gig setting, but we’re really looking forward to getting out and about and feeling that crackle of playing to people again.
We’ll be giving some new songs an outing – it’s been fun working out how to play them live! As it’s been a while since our last UK tour, we’ll be playing lots of old favourites, too. And Kev’s got a new synth.
Written and mostly recorded in 2019, ‘The Idea Of You’ is a captivating collection of songs – generously melodic, confidently executed and festooned with intricacies. Warmth, empathy and contentment course through the nine songs, a response to its makers having navigated personal and professional challenges to emerge with their identity. We’re really looking forward to getting out and about and feeling that crackle of playing to people again.
‘The Idea Of You’ is the fourth LP by Scottish band Admiral Fallow. The LP finds the band veering off in various directions from their indie-folk template, with pop, rock and Philly soul featuring. As always, the music is warm, the melodies will stick in your head and the vocal harmonies are beautifully executed.
Admiral Fallow perform at Metronome on Friday 26th November.
‘Archive Material’ is the second LP by Dublin indie rockers Silverbacks. With a grounding in classic rock and pop from their dad’s record collection, their music also takes its influences from the likes of Television and Pavement. ‘Archive Material’ also shows a clear influence from Deerhunter and Cate Le Bon. The LP was recorded with the assistance of Daniel Fox from Girl Band.
Their second albums finds the band leaning into their early influences, delivering idiosyncratic indie-rock packed with intricate, Tom Verlaine-esque “guitarmony”. Other reference points for the record included Neil Young, Weyes Blood and – on ‘Wear My Medals’ in particular – Bradford Cox and Cate Le Bon’s collaborative record Myths 004. Where ‘Fad’ found Silverbacks focused on recapturing the live experience rather than revelling in studio experimentation, ‘Archive Material’ skillfully traverses the line between the two.
from the forthcoming album “Archive Material“, out 21/01/22.
A new T. Rex box set called simply “1972” brings together studio recordings, broadcasts and performances by Marc Bolan and T. Rex and is available to pre-order in 6LP coloured vinyl and 5CD editions, with limited quantities being available with a print of “The Slider” signed by producer TonyVisconti.
1972 saw T. Rex chalk up two massive selling number one singles with ‘Telegram Sam’ and ‘Metal Guru’. Both feature on the album “The Slider” which was issued in July of that same year.
Having risen to superstardom through 1971, 1972 saw Marc Bolan attain the heights of “T. Rexmania”, or “T. Rextasy”, as the press dubbed the frenzy that took over the UK’s music scene. This box set celebrates that year. For the first time, it brings together the 1972 studio recordings, broadcasts and performances made by Bolan and his band, T. Rex, putting the listener into the shoes of a T. Rex fan that year: singles, albums, live concerts, radio broadcasts, a film soundtrack and more.
This box set celebrates that year. For the first time, it brings together the 1972 studio recordings, broadcasts and performances made by Bolan and his band, T. Rex, putting the listener into the shoes of a T. Rex fan that year: singles, albums, live concerts, radio broadcasts, a film soundtrack and more.
Bolan started 1972 with a brand new single on his own brand new record label, The T. Rex Wax Co. “Telegram Sam” swiftly reached the number 1 spot in the charts, his third chart-topper in under 12 months. In March, T. Rex played two sell-out concerts at Wembley’s Empire Pool, later featured in “Born To Boogie”, a feature film directed by Ringo Starr that included guest performances from Elton John and Ringo. May saw the release of another number 1, “Metal Guru”, followed in July by “The Slider”, the classic album.
The band also toured the US twice in 1972, Bolan taking the opportunity to perform solo acoustic sessions for local radio stations. And of course the band featured regularly on the BBC throughout the year, recording special sessions for Radio 1 and Top Of The Pops. T. Rex ended the year with the singles “Children Of The Revolution” and “Solid Gold Easy Action”, and the T. Rex Fan Club 1972 “Christmas Record” Flexi Disc (included here in its entirety). The 1972 boxincludes “The Slider” album, “Live At Wembley The Matinee Show” (with two previously unreleased 1972 mixes from The Evening Show), Born To Boogie: The Soundtrack Album (issued in full for the first time), Marc Bolan’s US Radio Sessions, T. Rex on the BBC in 1972, featuring a rare version of Telegram Sam from the Christmas Top Of The Pops, and more!
The booklet contains a specially-written 1600 word note by producer Tony Visconti, as well as a brand new 12,000 word essay by acknowledged Bolan authority Mark Paytress (author of the definitive Bolan biography). Also featured are many previously unpublished photos taken by Keith Morris in the course of 1972.
Having risen to superstardom through 1971, 1972 saw Marc Bolan attain the heights of “T. Rexmania”, or “T. Rextasy”, as the press dubbed the frenzy that took over the UK’s music scene.
This box set celebrates that year. For the first time, it brings together the 1972 studio recordings, broadcasts and performances made by Bolan and his band, T. Rex, putting the listener into the shoes of a T. Rex fan that year: singles, albums, live concerts, radio broadcasts, a film soundtrack and more.
Bolan started 1972 with a brand new single on his own brand new record label, The T. Rex Wax Co. “Telegram Sam” swiftly reached the number 1 spot in the charts, his third chart-topper in under 12 months. In March, T. Rex played two sell-out concerts at Wembley’s Empire Pool, later featured in “Born To Boogie”, a feature film directed by Ringo Starr that included guest performances from Elton John and Ringo. May saw the release of another number 1, “Metal Guru”, followed in July by “The Slider”, the classic album.
The band also toured the US twice in 1972, Bolan taking the opportunity to perform solo acoustic sessions for local radio stations. And of course the band featured regularly on the BBCthroughout the year, recording special sessions for Radio 1 and Top Of The Pops. T. Rex ended the year with the singles “Children Of The Revolution”and “Solid Gold Easy Action”, and the T. Rex Fan Club 1972 “Christmas Record” Flexi Disc (included here in its entirety).
The booklet contains aspecially-written 1600 word note by producer Tony Visconti, as well as a brand new 12,000 word essay by acknowledged Bolan authority Mark Paytress (author of the definitive Bolan biography). Also featured are many previously unpublished photos taken by Keith Morris in the course of 1972.
The box set contains:
“The Slider” album
“Live At Wembley” The Matinee Show – plus two previously unreleased 1972 mixes from The Evening Show
“Born To Boogie” The Soundtrack Album – issued in full for the first time
Marc Bolan’s US Radio Sessions
T. Rex on the BBC in 1972 – featuring rare version of ‘Telegram Sam’ from the Christmas Top Of The Pops
1972 B-sides and the T. Rex Fan Club 1972 “Christmas Record” Flexi Disc
Illustrated 24 page 12×12 book including
Essays by Tony Visconti and Mark Paytress
Pressed on 180 gram coloured vinyl
LP 1: THE SLIDER
1. Metal Guru / 2. Mystic Lady / 3. Rock On / 4. The Slider / 5. Baby Boomerang / 6. Spaceball Ricochet / 7. Buick Mackane / 8. Telegram Sam / 9. Rabbit Fighter / 10. Baby Strange / 11. Ballrooms Of Mars / 12. Chariot Choogle / 13. Main Man
LP 3: LIVE AT WEMBLEY: THE MATINEE SHOW [continued]
1. Hot Love / 2. Get It On / 3. ‘One More Time?’ [Emperor Rosko] / 4. Summertime Blues
Alternate mixes with 1972 overdubs, from The Evening Show*
5. Baby Strange [alternate mix] / 6. Hot Love [alternate mix]
LP 4: ‘BORN TO BOOGIE’ THE SOUNDTRACK ALBUM
1. Marc Bolan – Marc’s Intro / 2. T. Rex – Jeepster / 3. T. Rex – Baby Strange / 4. Marc Bolan – ‘Electric Wind’ [poem] / 5. Elton John, Ringo Starr & T. Rex – Tutti Frutti / 6. Elton John, Ringo Starr & T. Rex – Children Of The Revolution / 7. Marc Bolan & Ringo Starr – ‘Look To The Left’ / 8. Marc Bolan – Spaceball Ricochet / 9. Marc Bolan & Ringo Starr – ‘Some People Like To Rock’ / 10. T. Rex – Telegram Sam / 11. Marc Bolan & Ringo Starr – ‘Some People Like To Roll’ / 12. Marc Bolan & Mickey Finn – Cosmic Dancer / 13. Geoffrey Bayldon – ‘They’ve Come, Tis Said’ / 14. Marc Bolan & String Quartet – Tea Party Medley: Jeepster / Hot Love / Get It On / The Slider / 15. Geoffrey Bayldon – ‘Union Hall’ / 16. T. Rex – Hot Love / 17. T. Rex – Get It On / 18. T. Rex – Chariot Choogle [soundtrack mix of studio recording] / 19. Marc Bolan – Marc’s Outro / 20. Children Of The Revolution [strings reprise]
LP 5: MARC BOLAN’S 1972 US RADIO SESSIONS
1. Spaceball Ricochet / 2. Jeepster / 3. Cosmic Dancer / 4. Main Man / 5. Ballrooms Of Mars / 6. Mystic Lady / 7. Girl / 8. Baby Strange / 9. Left Hand Luke / 10. The Slider / 11. Spaceball Ricochet
LP 6: T. REX ON THE BBC IN 1972
1. Metal Guru / 2. The Slider / 3. Mystic Lady / 4. Rock On / 5. Main Man / 6. Children Of The Revolution / 7. Solid Gold Easy Action / 8. Telegram Sam [Christmas Top Of The Pops]*
T. REXTRAS
9. Cadilac / 10. Thunderwing / 11. Lady / 12. Jitterbug Love / 13. Sunken Rags / 14. Xmas Riff – Born To Boogie / 15. T. Rex Fan Club 1972 “Christmas Record” Flexi Disc
Where L.A. Witch’s self-titled album oozed with vibe and atmosphere, with the whole mix draped in reverb, sonically placing the band in some distant realm, broadcast across some unknown chasm of time, “Play With Fire” comes crashing out of the gate with a bold, brash, in-your-face rocker “Fire Starter”. The authoritative opener is a deliberate mission statement.
“Play With Fire” is a suggestion to make things happen,” says Sanchez. “Don’t fear mistakes or the future. Take a chance. Say and do what you really feel, even if nobody agrees with your ideas. These are feelings that have stopped me in the past. I want to inspire others to be freethinkers even if it causes a little burn.” And by that line of reasoning, “Fire Starter” becomes a call to action, an anthem against apathy. From there, the album segues into the similarly bodacious rocker “Motorcycle Boy” a feisty love song inspired by classic cinema outlaws like Mickey Rourke, Marlon Brando, and Steve McQueen. At track three, we hear L.A. Witch expand into new territories as “Dark Horse” unfurls a mixture of dustbowl folk, psychedelic breakdowns, and fire-and-brimstone organ lines. And from there, the band only gets more adventurous.
“Play With Fire” is a bold new journey that retains L.A. Witch’s siren-song mystique, nostalgic spirit, and contemporary cool. Despite the stylistic breadth of the record, there is a unifying timbre across the album’s nine tracks, as if the trio of young musicians is bound together as a collective of old souls tapping into the sounds of their previous youth.
The songs areEffortlessly cool, there’s elements of punk and surf in there and the vocals make the listening nice and easy, nothing jarring here just feels like a smooth ride in the california sun.
“Los Angeles has always been a home for misplaced souls, and L.A Witch has the sound to go with it, dripping with nostalgia, heavy reverb, and glamour.” – NYLON
“Sanchez sounds like she genuinely might steal your car and your soul, and then drive them both through the darkness to Hell.” – VICE
“As one might expect of a band called L.A. Witch, this West Coast trio plays pitch-black pop-rock wrapped in blankets of reverb.” – Consequence of Sound
Bambara share the second single from their forthcoming mini-album “Love on My Mind“. Another masterclass in gloomy dynamism, “Birds” moves between a minimal, bass-driven verse into an expansive, atmospheric chorus that further drives home the band’s distinct narrative approach and the contrast between dark and light. While their last album “Stray” mostly ruminated on death, “Love on My Mind” further tackles the motives of the heart, only with the creeping feeling that our sense of mortality is never too far from being questioned in the process.
Bambara’s Reid Bateh had the following to say about “Birds”:
“Birds” compresses the events of many months into three and a half minutes. A time when the couple we follow throughout the record are growing closer together. On the train, they fall in and out of sleep, reliving shared moments, when a childhood memory bubbles up to the surface of the protagonist’s mind, revealing his complex relationship to the idea of love.”
After radically reimagining their sound on both 2018’s “Shadow On Everything” (dubbed by NPR a “western gothic opus”) and 2020’s riotous noir-punk masterpiece, “Stray”, Bambara have managed to condense all the energy and darkness that made their prior releases so compelling and rearrange it into something defiantly new.
Opening track, “Slither in the Rain,” all hissing high-hat and spectral synthlines, is a true statement of intent. It’s minimal and atmospheric, foregrounding Bateh’s raw vocals as he introduces one of “Love on My Mind’s” main characters years after the events of the album are over – a lonely man who throws bottles at airplanes and dances a two-step in the pattern of a figure-8. While Bateh has always been adept at character sketches, tracks like “Slither” introduce a newfound vulnerability that runs true through the entire album and cause the songs to hit on a more human level.
Similarly, “Point And Shoot” in which each stanza describes the louche, lawless scenes of “rooftop girls / standing shoulder-to-shoulder, naked figures with their hips / cocked,” busted up jaws, and couches full of burn-holes captured by the snapshots of “Love on My Mind’s” female lead – displays an autobiographical intimacy that is not as apparent in Bambara’s previous releases. This tenderness is echoed on “Birds,” a rare love song (from which the album’s title is derived), and album closer “Little Wars,” a gripping finale of loneliness and isolation.
But while these songs may display a softer side of Bambara, it’s important to note that they haven’t lost the thrill of what attracted so many people to them in the first place. “Mythic Love,” with its driving bassline and ricocheting guitar lines, brings to mind past rave-ups like “Serafina” and “Sunbleached Skulls” but obliterates them in the process, while “Feelin’ Like a Funeral” – a dangerously oscillating tale of a city knifing – is probably the most thrillingly anthemic song the band have ever recorded.
Taken together, “Love on My Mind” amounts to another massive step forward for Bambara – both the boldest thing they’ve ever done, and the most human.
11 April – Leicester, United Kingdom – Firebug *sold out*
22 April – Nottingham, United Kingdom – Rescue Rooms
“Love on My Mind”will be released on February 25th, 2022. Available on Deluxe Edition Green Vinyl and Special & Limited Edition Black Vinyl.
London-based Palace release their third album Shoals via Fiction Records. Shoals is a profound and pensive album, boldly exploring some of life’s greatest questions over its 12 mesmerising tracks. the album deftly explores three main existential dilemmas against a broader backdrop of wonder at the vastness and power of the ocean, concluding its arc with the stunning opus ‘where sky becomes sea’. through diving into themes of the subconscious, dreams and existentialism, Shoals is broadly a record about living with and processing fear. the album’s title is inspired by the seemingly unpredictable behaviour of shoals of fish, shifting rapidly in much the same way as our fears and anxieties of the world around us.
Frontman Leo Wyndham explains: “it explores and questions what really is palpable and real – what really matters and what we become in death – and the fear of that. the fear of existing and the fear of dying” “it’s an ode to the power of the ocean and the majesty of nature and how sometimes they are the only things that truly feel real, living and breathing.”
Palace returned with the first singles from the upcoming album ‘Shoals’ towards the end of 2021. ‘Lover (Don’t Let Me Down)’ and ‘Gravity’ gave us a glimpse of what to expect from the third of their albums, with their raw emotion and lyricism alongside their experimental and distinctively hypnotic riffs. In an interview with NME, Leo Wyndham explains that the album confronts a lot of personal reflection, anxieties and existential doubt whilst emerging with new sounds they would never have dreamed of using before, and we can’t wait to indulge in it. We’re hoping there will be plenty of the new tracks featured on the band’s UK tour this February!
Big Nothing like to joke that the real reason they write songs together is to have an excuse to go out to dinner after band practice. It’s a typically self-deprecating way of describing their artistic motivations, but it’s also not a bad place to start with capturing what makes the Philadelphia-based four-piece so endearing. Big Nothing make the kind of timeless guitar music that’s as comforting as it is catchy. Their sophomore full-length and Lame-O Records debut, “Dog Hours”, offers ten convivial rock songs that radiate with the warmth of an old friend who’s always there to help you navigate the ups and downs of life.
Comprised of bassist/vocalist Liz Parsons, guitarist/vocalist Matt Quinn, guitarist/vocalist Pat Graham, and drummer Chris Jordan, the members of Big Nothing each have distinct song writing voices that all remarkably come together in a seamless way. Drawing on shared influences like The Replacements, Superchunk, and Teenage Fanclub, the band’s 2019 debut album, Chris, established the band’s affinity for big guitars and even bigger hooks. But when the time came for a follow-up, the group who so cherished their hours together hashing out loud rock songs in a practice space suddenly found themselves in very different circumstances.
“With the pandemic, we were all writing separately and being quieter in our apartments,” Quinn explains. “And so it was pretty natural that we started writing more stripped-back music.” The three-pronged song writing team of Quinn, Parsons, and Graham made the best of the situation by pushing one another to leave their collective comfort zones, while also playing to their individual strengths. “Liz is very meticulous and Pat is very production-minded,” Quinn says, with Parsons adding, “And Matt writes a ton of songs.” Through this process of solitary writing and collaborative honing, “Dog Hours” began to take shape and a different version of Big Nothing emerged.
The result is an album of alt-country-tinged guitar pop that feels intimate without sacrificing the band’s irresistible power pop crunch. Recorded by Ian Farmer at The Metal Shop, the songs on “Dog Hours” are full of chiming acoustic guitars and layered harmonies, and a laid back, live charm that crackles throughout—even in the quietest moments. That palpable comradery is an essential part of Big Nothing’s appeal and shines through on “Dog Hours”, despite the fact that its recording sessions were actually the first time the band had ever played the songs together in-person. “We weren’t able to get together but we had the demos for a long time before we recorded,” Quinn explains. “So we just kept listening and preparing and working the songs out, and when we got to the studio and started tracking, that was the first time we played them as a band.”
Songs like “Always On My Mind” or “Don’t Tell Me” offer the kind of instantly satisfying rock n’ roll at which Big Nothing have always excelled, while elsewhere “A Lot of Finding Out” and “Accents” highlight a mastery of the classic acoustic-guitars-plus-bouncy-tempos formula that would make Tom Petty proud. The band’s willingness to experiment with sparser arrangements and different dynamics especially shines through on mid-album standouts like the electric piano-led “Curiosity” and the gently crescendoing title track. “There are just things about getting older that change the way you write music,” Parsons says with a laugh. “Maybe you start to slow things down a little or you can’t sing in the same range anymore, or you just start wanting to try different things.”
A heightened awareness of time passing and its effects made an impact on more than just the sound of “Dog Hours”. All life’s uncertainties that grow more and more defined with adulthood loom throughout the album’s lyrics, often accompanied by at least a touch of the existential dread that’s become universal since March of 2020. “The moods are all over the place,” says Quinn. “Sometimes things felt like a real downer, but a lot of the record is just about trying to figure it all out.” Whether on songs about nostalgia, love, longing, frustration—or even a mushroom-trip-turned-panic-attack—there’s a real sense of interpersonal connection running throughout “Dog Hours”. Written during a time where people were often more isolated than ever, these songs are defined by all the joy and messiness that comes from colliding lives.
“Dog Hours” comes to a close with “What I Wanna Say,” a sweetly ambling cut led by a shuffling beat and Quinn’s longing voice. It’s a song about looking for something in someone else and never really finding it, about paths that might fleetingly cross but never fully come together—the kind of lament that you might confide to your closest friends in the midst of a late night hangout. As Parson and Graham’s voices join in on the final chorus’ call-and-response refrain, the song fittingly fades into laughter and studio shenanigans, and you can imagine those friends of yours responding to your story with the usual sympathy, reassurance, and, of course, a joke.
releases February 18th, 2022, “A Lot Of Finding Out” is the first single from Big Nothing’s sophmore album “Dog Hours” on Lame-O Records.
Engineered by Ian Farmer at the Metal Shop in Philadelphia, PA November 2020 and February & March 2021.
Alex Cameron returns with the new single “Sara Jo,” and an accompanying video directed by Cameron and filmed in Croatia. As Cameron’s first new music since 2019’s “Miami Memory”, “Sara Jo” introduces a new thematic arc to the world of Alex Cameron, contextualizing a character disillusioned with their life. Over a bed of groovy guitars and a driving beat, he paints a portrait of a man whose family is ailed by the ills of modernity, from vaccine denial to exasperation and loneliness (“Who pulled the curtains? // Who broke the screen? // Who told my brother that his kids are gonna die from this vaccine? // Who told my mother that she’s never gonna find no love, nobody? // Who told my father that he doesn’t have to pay for counselling?”).
Self-produced and recorded by Cameron, co-written with long time band member Justin Nijssen, and mixed by Mount Kimbie’s Kai Campos, “Sara Jo” stays true to Cameron’s distinctive brand of synth-rock while setting the stage for a wider narrative to unfold.
“Man, I used to be such an idiot. I still am an idiot, but I used to be one too. That’s the template of a Mitch Hedberg joke. The sentiment orbits around me constantly. Judgement in retrospect. Evolving identities that change just as much as they stay the same. I can even hate thoughts I’ve had and decisions I’ve made in the past. Cringe at the old me. Oblivious to how I’ll view this enlightened version of myself in hindsight. Cause man, I used to be such an idiot. Good thing I’ve improved since then. I put in the work. I listened. I learned. I’m malleable like that. Good for me. Those awful thoughts are no longer mine. Most likely they never were. Most likely they were learned and fumbled into a shape I could express like some genetic inheritance of a stupid idea – passed down from one idiot to the next. At my best I can convert my stupidity into wisdom. At my worst I hate it, and it’s useless, my short memory means I can’t even locate its origin.
All I know is I hate the dumb fuck that convinced me of it. And so if I can hate the things I used to do, the ideas I used to spill confidently that should have been muttered regretfully then it makes sense that I can hate others for the things they do, and especially for the ideas they might have or have repeated. Cherished totems of dumb contemplation. The inextinguishable torch of bad ideas that will forever flicker as it’s exchanged between proud human hosts. What’s worse than an idiot? Someone who thinks they used to be an idiot – but aren’t anymore. In a clear moment I see it in myself. I’ll say things like ‘I can’t believe people think that’s true.’ Or ‘these fucken idiots.’ You can watch me do it. Watch me distance myself from ideas and actions that I find don’t align.
I might have used to think a thing was true, or right, or just – but that was someone else’s idea. That was an idiot’s musing. I was the victim of dumb charm. And the perpetrator is to blame. If I could only remember who that idiot was. And so we have ‘Sara Jo’ – A search for the person responsible for all bad ideas. Cause it sure as hell isn’t me.” – Alex Cameron
releases March 11th, 2022 Alex Cameron the forthcoming album ‘Oxy Music’, out March 11th on SecretlyCanadian.
All songs written by Alex Cameron With contributions by: Justin Nijssen Roy Molloy Lloyd Vines Jason Williamson
Recorded and produced by Alex Cameron
Next Spring, Alex Cameron will embark on a European tour.
The Fat Angel Sings 