Amyl and the Sniffers, the Australian punk band behind guitar hits like ‘Hertz’, ‘Security’ and ‘Guided by Angels’, included on their acclaimed 2021 album ‘Comfort to Me’; a band that we had in Spain not long ago playing at the now defunct Cala Mijas festival; is releasing a new album on October 25 under the title ‘Cartoon Darkness’.
It is an album that addresses topics such as “the climate crisis, war, artificial intelligence or the fact of being cautious when talking about politics.” The album also criticizes “the feeling of helping others by using social media, when in reality we are just feeding the data beast of big tech, our modern God.”
The same press release indicates that ‘Cartoon Darkness’ talks about the way in which social networks and the media “shove information into our mouths” like a baby. The group points out that, although “we seem like adults”, in reality “we are trapped children”, and denounces that networks and entertainment offer the population “distractions that do not even cause us pleasure, sensation or joy; they only make us feel nothing.”
‘Cartoon Darkness’ will probably be more fun than it sounds, judging by the sound of its new preview, ‘Chewing Gum’, today’s Song Of The Day.
The follow-up to the single ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’, released in May along with a second track, ‘Facts’, is a song dedicated to the innocence of love. “I used to be so tough, but for love I turn dumb,” Amyl bellows in this garage punk shot full of robust guitars that could have been signed by Iggy Pop in the 70s. Although the most apt comparison seems to be the Runaways and their ‘Cherry Bomb’.
And yes, ‘Chewing Gum’ sticks like chewing gum, and also like Annie’s classic of the same name from 2004. It also sticks, like Amyl herself to the person she desires: “You got me trapped, stuck like glue, stuck like gum,” she insists. A feeling of loss of control that Amyl and the Sniffers vent in a storm of guitars at the end of the song.
