White Lung Announce New LP Paradise, Share St. Vincent Q&A, “Hungry” Video Ft. Amber Tamblyn
Photo by Rick Rodney
White Lung are back with a followup to 2014′s excellent Deep Fantasy. Paradise, out May 6 on Domino, comes with a band bio in the form of a Q&A between St. Vincent’s Annie Clark and band members Mish Barber-Way and Kenneth William. Below, watch the video for “Hungry,” starring Amber Tamblyn and co-directed by Justin Gradin and Barber-Way. Update (2/23, 2:30 p.m. EST): There’s also a cameo from Deafheaven‘s George Clarke at the 1:37 mark; he’s sitting poolside, donning his signature leather gloves. Scroll down to read Gradin’s statement on the video and see White Lung’s initial batch of tour dates.
The album, produced by Lars Stalfors and mastered by Joe LaPorta, is 28 minutes long.
Speaking to Clark in the bio, Barber-Way says:
There’s this really stupid attitude that only punks have where it’s somehow uncool to become a better songwriter. In no other musical genre are your fans going to drop you when you start progressing. That would be like parents being disappointed in their child for graduating from kindergarten to the first grade. Paradise is the best song writing we have ever done, and I expect the next record to be the same. I have no interest in staying in kindergarten.
Clark told her:
I can’t think of another band that sounds like you guys, and I was telling Mish that I can’t wait to be in the pit. I feel like I wanna just feel it. I wanna feel the assault, and then I wanna feel the beautiful moments, and I just wanna feel it all. It’s rare these days in indie rock music to see just a singer. Not a singer who also plunks the keyboard, or plays rhythm guitar, but just a singer. Very few people can do it and command an audience. And you do that.
Finally, asked what she’s trying to say on the record, Barber-Way concludes:
I am content in my life, which is really bad for writing songs. I’m not newly heart-broken or falling in love or struggling, so my dopamine is down along with my creativity. I’m married, content and happy. I make fine money. I like what I do for a living. I’m all serotonin. So, I wrote half of this album outside myself and from characters. Two songs are written from the voice of famous serial killers. Another song is two people fighting. This album is schizophrenic. I took from books, stereotypical love fables and turned them. I wrote songs based on news stories I felt deserved more attention. This album is not really about me. Of course, I wrote some songs about my own life. Mostly love songs. I wanted to be earnest. For me, it’s so much easier to write lyrics with cynicism, snark and spite then to genuinely write about being happy. I had to challenge that. But moreover, this record is a collection of other people’s stories I wanted to retell. There isn’t a lot of anger on this album. It’s colorful, bright, cotton-candy, over-saturated, neon signs and glitter… just paradise.
Read the Q&A in full here.
Of the “Hungry” video, Justin Gradin says, “‘Hungry’ plays with identity and perception, and the idea that sometimes public attention can create more isolation. The video focuses on a self obsessed girl (who is semi-famous for being on a milk can) as she struggles to stay relevant while being haunted by the ghosts of fame until her eventual epiphany of Disposability.”
Paradise:
01 Dead Weight
02 Narcoleptic
03 Below
04 Kiss Me When I Bleed
05 Demented
06 Sister
07 Hungry
08 I Beg You
09 Vegas
10 Paradise
White Lung:
03-11 Vancouver, British Columbia – The Cobalt Cabaret
03-15-19 Austin, TX – SXSW
03-20 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
05-06 Toronto, Ontario – Velvet Underground
05-07 Brooklyn, NY – Babys All Right
07-22 Oro-Medonte, ON – Way Home Festival
Watch White Lung perform “Bunny” at Pitchfork Music Festival:
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