NEW ALBUM ‘DOOMSCROLL’ FROM NAKED LUNGS DUE IN AUGUST
Today, enigmatic Irish four-piece noise-punk band Naked Lungs announce details of their highly anticipated debut album, “Doomscroll”. Recorded and mixed once again by Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox at Sonic Studios in Dublin, the new album is out 18th August, and to mark the announcement the band have shared it’s crushing lead single “Pressure”.
After a triumphant 2022, which saw the band release several singles and a self-titled EP that garnered international acclaim and plays on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music, as well as support from Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop. They followed up with a year of high profile gigs, including two sold-out Therapy? supports, a successful headline UK tour, several sold-out Dublin headline shows and a festival run which saw them play a packed-out morning showcase at The Great Escape, as well as performing at the likes of Otherside Festival, Mutations Festival, and more.
The band’s new single “Pressure” is a consummate and explosive introduction to their new album “Doomscroll”, combining abrasive noise, grinding guitars, and a deceptively groove-heavy rhythm section, which coalesces around vocalist Tom Brady’s blistering and almost shamanic vocals. Exploring themes of male-vulnerability, toxic masculinity, and the inevitable downward spiral as result of not addressing these issues, the single is accompanied by a video directed by the band’s bassist, Ryan Mortell.
Speaking on the video, Ryan says “Keeping in line with the lyrics, the video explores the concept of anxiety and toxicity boiling over to manifest itself as a literal monster for us to overcome. By showing the negative means we use to overcome these feelings, we can explore the journey one might take to escape this self-fulfilling prophecy of toxicity. The visuals are highly influenced by the work of New-French Extremity directors such as Julia Ducournau and Gaspar Noe – I was especially influenced by Noe’s “Enter The Void” in which the protagonist spirals into a psychedelic trip through their memories following their untimely death.”
Over the course of 10 tracks, “Doomscroll” replicates the flow and scroll one might experience as they doomscroll through batches of negative news, each song acting almost as another article. The ebb and flow of emotions around this concept can be seen across the widely varying dynamics of the record, encapsulating these negative feelings and counteract them with moments of levity.
The album still contains the same caustic power that the band have been lauded for, but elsewhere on tracks such as “The Garden” they lean into more melodic and measured territory with sung vocals and post-rock leaning, atmospheric instrumentation. Similarly, on “Boo Boo” the band almost dip into new wave territory with melodic vocals that constrict around droning effected guitars and crashing drums. These tracks are just a taste of where the band’s real talent lies on this record – in their ability to control and toy with both restraint and unbridled power. Tracks such as “Outcome” and “Relentless” exemplify this further with moments of uneasy tension, which ignite in a carpet-bomb of noise, distortion, and angst.
Having already been named as one of NME’s 100 for 2023, Naked Lung’s debut album stands as a pulverising display of a band that are able to deliver on all of the hype that has been building around them, whilst continuing to defy pigeonholing. Stop scrolling, put down the phone, and pay attention.
Naked Lungs is:
Tom Brady – Vocals
Andrew Connaughton – Guitar
Matthew Pyper – Drums
Ryan Mortell – Bass
“Doomscroll” is out 18th August
Tracklisting:
1. Gack
2. Second Song
3. River (Down)
4. Relentless
5. Shell
6. Outcome
7. Pressure
8. Database
9. The Garden
10. Boo Boo
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PHOTO CREDIT: NICHOLAS O’CONNELL
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