If you want a band to tread on eggshells and ease you in, then Amyl & The Sniffers aren’t the band for you. Renowned for being a heartfelt throwback to the days of vicious, visceral punk-rock, thrashing and brawling their way to the top of the tree, they find themselves at the biggest point of their career. To document this exact moment – this tightrope between cult following and global stardom – they’re back with an album that delves deeper into their political message, full to the brim with personality and with more panache and poise than you might expect.
Recorded at Foo Fighters’ 606 Studios in Los Angeles, their third album ‘Cartoon Darkness’ takes personal diary entries and morphs them into a universal experience, backed up by a soundscape that’s kicked up into sixth gear and befits the hallowed ground on which the album was made. “It was very, very special,” vocalist Amy Taylor reminisces. “We were using the desk that’s been signed by Stevie Nicks. It’s where ‘Rumours’ and ‘Nevermind’ were made, so it’s like, ‘If this album is shit, it’s our fault!’”
Thankfully – and unsurprisingly – the album is far from it. Arguably their most rounded release yet, ‘Cartoon Darkness’ contains all the impish charm and mischief that you’d expect – plus enough foul language in opening track ‘Jerkin’’ to make those of a nervous disposition have a fit – but with an added depth and layering of sounds that turns a run-of-the-mill punk album into a record that sees the Melbourne quartet set their sights on the stratosphere.
This glass-half-full attitude manifests itself lyrically, particularly in the tongue-in-cheek takes on femininity and conservative outrage in ‘Tiny Bikini’ and ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’, but also in the egregiously massive classic rock guitar that’s peppered across the album, marking a clear intent to turn up the volume, turn up the glamour, and stake their claim at world domination.
Posted from:https://readdork.com/features/amyl-and-the-sniffers-interview-nov24-2/