Warmduscher have announced the release of their second album Whale City with a succession of cryptic statements.
The Fat White Family offshoot have also shared the first track from the album, 'Big Wilma', complete with an equally mysterious promo.
‘Big Wilma’ clocks in well under the three minute mark, and about a third of that is the swirling haze of psychedelic white noise and vintage synth squalls that constitute its intro Then a flick knife guitar line slices through the clouds of green smoke, and we’re plunged headfirst into a gnarly garage groove that’s directly descended from deviant 50s rockabilly via The Stooges and MC5 and, picking up a bit of Krautrock hypnosis along the way, this nation’s saving grace The Fall. There are lyrics about pulling triggers, speeding cars, leopard skin and spit.
The track is accompanied by an impressionstic video shot in the Far East by director Soojin Chang and starring guitarist Lightin' Jack Everett.
Underneath the video on YouTube, an explanatory statement references Marlon Brando's psychotic rogue army general in the film 'Apocalypse Now', Colonel Kurtz.
It reads: “Who is Big Wilma? Some say a call-girl from Whale City who started killing unsuspecting johns with a flick-knife and stealing their cash. Some say Big Wilma is a mission, a ghost in Korea, hiding in a Buddhist temple.
Lightnin' Jack was taken deep within an experimental psy-ops program as a sleeper agent, ordered to search out 'Big Wilma' who/whatever it is. Reviled and refused at every turn, the question looms, 'Who and what is Big Wilma?' Like General Kurtz, he was lost down the river, fighting men for secret dossiers and making non-existent telephone calls. If it isn't clear now, it never will be.”
The press release for the album is similarly low on facts, beyond the fact that the Leaf label will release the LP on June 1 and confirming it features singer Clams Baker, guitarist Lightnin’ Jack Everett (“his man on point”) alongside bandmates The Saulcano, Mr Salt Fingers Lovecraft and The Witherer.
There's also another obtuse statement designed to set the mood for the album. “These neon lights flow through my veins,” it states, “And the bright red lipstick soothes my soul. A thousand broken dreams. A thousand souls on the bottom of my feet. Freedom has never felt so good. No small talk. No standing in lines. No candle lit dinners. Just the feel of freedom. The stench. The dirt. Love. Breathing it in. Letting it out. Straight to the top.”
Less mysterious is the news that the band play a string of live dates and festivals across Europe this summer - and we'd strongly recommend you get down to at least one of them:
Salford Eagle Inn – March 6
Netherlands Motel Mozique Festival – April 20
Amsterdam London Calling Festival – May 26
Dudingen (Switzerland) Bad Bonn Kilibi – May 31
Nîmes (France) This Is Not A Love Song – June 1
Glasgow Hug & Pint, UK – June 3
Leeds Hyde Park Book Club – June 4
Manchester Gullivers – June 5
Sheffield Picture House Social - June 6
Bristol The Exchange – June 7
London Moth Club – June 8
Brighton Hope & Ruin – June 9
Mannheim (Germany) Maifeld Derby - June 17
