Amyl & The Sniffers have shared details of their new album, Cartoon Darkness. The follow-up to their Australian Music Prize–nominated 2021 record Comfort To Me is set for release on Friday, October 25th via B2B Records/Virgin. The Melbourne punk band worked on their third studio album with English-born, Australian-based producer Nick Launay – best known for his work on albums by Midnight Oil, INXS, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, IDLES and Silverchair – at Los Angeles’ 606 West.
Prior to the album’s announcement, the band released its lead single ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’ in May. It was accompanied by a music video starring American actor Steven Ogg, best known for his portrayal of the character Trevor Phillips in Grand Theft Auto V. Now, with the album officially announced, Amyl have shared its follow-up single ‘Chewing Gum’.
In a press statement, lead vocalist Amy Taylor described ‘Chewing Gum’ as tackling “the adversity of life” – that being “desire never fulfilled”. “Doing the dishes, cleaning, but never eating the meal,” said Taylor.
“Trying to celebrate the ignorance of youth despite it being robbed away, so choosing ignorance, choosing to be dumb and choosing love despite everything; choosing bad decisions for love. Surrendering to joy, surrendering to being a vision, in your own power – because making decisions, based on emotion rather than logic, is liberating.”
Amyl & The Sniffers – ‘Chewing Gum’
When describing Cartoon Darkness, Taylor went into extensive detail on its thematic context. “[This album] is about climate crisis, war, AI, tiptoeing on the eggshells of politics, and people feeling like they’re helping by having a voice online when we’re all just feeding the data beast of Big Tech, our modern-day god,” she said.
“It’s about the fact that our generation is spoonfed information. We look like adults, but we’re children forever cocooned in a shell. We’re all passively gulping up distractions that don’t even cause pleasure, sensation or joy – they just cause numbness.”
Since the release of Comfort To Me, Amyl & The Sniffers have toured extensively both nationally and internationally. Australia-based highlights have included a national theatre tour, playing Foo Fighters‘ 2022 Geelong show – which ultimately served as the late Taylor Hawkins‘ Australian finale – and touring as part of the Smashing Pumpkins‘ mini-festival The World Is A Vampire. In November, the band will embark on a national European tour. Next July, the band will play London’s Finsbury Park opening for Fontaines D.C., alongside Kneecap.
Further Reading
Amyl and the Sniffers: “We Might Never Play Again Until We’re at the John Farnham Point”
Amyl and the Sniffers’ Amy Taylor to Appear in ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under’ Season 3
Amy Taylor Sings ‘Fuck the Pain Away’ with Peaches Live in Melbourne
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