Black Lips return with their 10th studio effort ‘Apocalypse Love’ set for release on 14th October. Scorched with their trademark menace, it cryogenically mutates all recognised musical bases; it spins yarns about vintage Soviet synths, Benzedrine stupors, coup de’ tats, stolen valor and certified destruction, all set against a black setting sun. Since the turn of the decade the band have transformed from austere country pioneers, into a set of Lynchian surrealists, hellbent on recalibrating the history of rock ‘n’ roll.
A dystopian Spaghetti Western, Morricone-esque track, new single ‘Lost Angel’ exudes from the Subterranean underground with a cataclysmic air.
Released today with new music video directed by L.A filmmaker and photographer Alexandra Cabral (‘The Lost Film’, 2021, Gucci) and band member Zumi Rosow, the video was shot in L.A and sees our angel wandering through the land of the lost.
‘Apocalypse Love’ is an album that emanates from a dive bar jukebox in the back of your mind; with a playlist that bends between tub thumping doom-glam, Plastic Ono singalongs, cocktail-shaken space age pop and lo-fi outsider acoustic-punk, with mariachi horns, theremins, drum machines and harmonies filtering through the infectious melodies.
Sellotaped together with lavish arrangements and plenty of wayward noises to expand the Lips’ new panorama, the album is a smorgasbord; a soundtrack for these troubled times, a buzzing light through the haze of uncertainty, at the end of that long corridor in the Lips’ favoured smoke-filled nightery.
Zumi muses, “It’s a weird dance record, one that reflects the moment that the world’s in right now…”
As the band venture into their third decade, ‘Apocalypse Love’ is proof that The Black Lips show no sign of slowing down…
New album available on LTD Deluxe Edition Violet Vinyl with Silver Foiled Sleeve, Rough Trade Exclusive White/Black ‘Apocalypse Splatter’ Vinyl, Classic Black Vinyl & CD.
