Kick The Cat, the long-running jazz fusion quartet featuring Umphrey’s McGee drummer Kris Myers, returns with “Ow! My Eye”, the first single off forthcoming album Gurgle, due out on June 25th. The track and its mind-bending animated video arrive exclusively via Live For Live Music today ahead of their official release on Friday, April 9th.
“Kick The Cat looks to create a diabolical, outrageous sound that channels the spirit of jazz, rock, and fusion,” Myers tells Live For Live Music of the interstellar lead single.
The new album will mark the first full-length release from Kick The Cat—which also features bassist Chris Clemente, guitarist Chris Siebold, and keyboardist Vijay Tellis-Nayak—since 2004’s Scramble.
As Myers continues about the Clemente-penned single, Chris “originally intended ‘Ow! My Eye’ to be performed by the Elmhurst College Percussion Ensemble (which happens to be my alma mater), incorporating marimbas, vibes, and other percussion. The song uses various time signatures, diminished chord shapes on the keyboards, sharp 9 guitar chords, and more. This is all music geekery at its finest. … The production on this track is inspired by the aggressiveness of King Crimson.”
In order to create visuals that matched the track’s many musical twists and turns, the Chicago-based outfit enlisted prolific animators Jimmy Marco and Jackson Davis to devise a hybrid-claymation voyage for the official music video. In the video, viewers follow a pink Cyclops as it throws on some headphones and settles in to listen to the new track on his bed. He soon drifts off to sleep and his resting mind kicks in, sending him on a fantastic voyage through the deepest depths of the ocean, the farthest reaches of outer space, and everywhere in between.
“We feel this single lends itself to a creative visual experience as well,” Myers explains. “It really captures the essence of the music, and reminds me of the absurdist, out-there humoristic approach of Adult Swim animation, but in the Jimmy Marco realm of ‘wonky surrealism.’”
Related: Umphrey’s McGee Announces Two-Night Run At New Haven, CT’s Westville Music Bowl
Settle in and drift away with the new video for “Ow! My Eye” by Kick The Cat below.
Kick The Cat – “Ow! My Eye” (Official Music Video)
[Video: Kick The Cat]
Gurgle, the new album from Kick The Cat, will be available to pre-order in CD and vinyl formats (including a limited-edition 2-LP Ruby Red translucent vinyl). For details, visit the band’s website.
Each of the new singles from Gurgle will be accompanied by a live rendition posted to the band’s YouTube channel. Subscribe to catch all upcoming releases and check out the various live videos the band has posted throughout this year.
Stay tuned for details on live Kick The Cat performances in support of the new album later this year.
The post PREMIERE: Kick The Cat Concocts A Cycloptic Dreamscape In Video For New Single, “Ow! My Eye” [Watch] appeared first on L4LM.
