Swallow the Rat release new single/video 'Terra Nullius'
South Locust is the second album from Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau post punk psych trio Swallow the Rat, due for release Friday 1 September.
Emerging post-pandemic as a reinvigorated three piece, Swallow the Rat (guitarist Brian Purington, drummer/vocalist Hayden Fritchley, bassist/vocalist Stephen Horsley) return with a new dual vocal attack where voices now soar, growl or reassure, while the stripped down format provides for more space and dynamics.
Lyrically, the band survey the legacy of colonialism, neoliberalism and the internet, as well as broken friendships, and things torn apart as if by a locust cloud.
The album's lead single 'Terra Nullius' is out today accompanied by a mind-blowing video.
'Terra Nullius' is a song in two parts, exploring the repercussions of white privilege in two different scenarios. The song initially confronts the part played by settlers in dishonest land deals with Māori in Aotearoa, before moving to the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, where 39 people died, and 35 square blocks of the Greenwood neighbourhood were destroyed.
Recorded with acclaimed engineer Nick Abbott (Foals, Die! Die! Die!), mixed remotely in Los Angeles by Sonny Diperri (Protomartyr, Diiv, Animal Collective), and mastered in Chicago by Carl Saff (Sonic Youth), South Locust will be out on September 1st via US label Shifting Sounds.
Swallow the Rat has announced Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand tour dates for August and September:
Aotearoa New Zealand
Saturday 8 September Wine Cellar Auckland
Friday 15 September Yot Club Raglan
Saturday 16 September Voodoo Lounge Tauranga
Friday 22 September Last Place Hamilton
Saturday 23 September Common Room Hastings
Australia (Melbourne)
Thursday 31 August Old Bar Melbourne
Friday 1 September Cactus Room Melbourne
Saturday 2 September (All Ages – Afternoon) Oh! Jean Records Melbourne
Saturday 2 September (R18 – Evening) Gasometer Melbourne
