Amyl and the Sniffers Drop Eye-Opening Music Vid From New Album Cartoon Darkness

Amyl and the Sniffers Drop Eye-Opening Music Vid From New Album Cartoon Darkness
Image: Image: Cartoon Darkness cover art, John Angus Stewart

Pioneers in Australian pub and punk rock revival Amyl and the Sniffers have released their newest album Cartoon Darkness today.

This is the band’s third album and in traditional punk fashion explores themes of freedom and not being tied down to societal norms. However, these themes are explored on a more personal level.  

Amyl and The Sniffers release nude and uncensored music video for Jerkin

The opening track and most listened to single on Apple Music Jerkin focus its attention on body image and online commenting.

In line with this, the band have released a rather interesting music video for the single. The video consists of the vocalist Amy Taylor singing in a bikini with brief cuts to naked imagery of all kinds. The video is censored on YouTube but can be viewed uncensored on the band’s website.

Also found on the website is a statement from the video’s director John Angus Stewart, in which he explains that the video is a love letter to body positivity.

“This is why we wanted to strip away the artifice and examine the body in an open, conversational way”, he stated.  

Album pays tribute to iconic Aussie rock acts like the Angels and Midnight Oil

Beyond the music video, the four singles of the album both encapsulate the iconic punk sound as well as expand upon it incorporating a wide range of influences.

The aforementioned Jerkin is the closest to that raw punk sound with guitar and bass both using heavy distortion complimented with a dance like beat from the drummer Bryce Wilson.  

The guitar work from Declan Martens is arguably the highlight of the tracks. His chords riffs are clean with a galloping strumming style. Martens was able to produce some solid solos, including Chewing Gum which was a mixture of traditional punk sound and Eddie Van Halen speed and intricacy.

Contrastingly, the third track Big Dreams has Martens begin with a mellow riff using single notes which slowly turns into power chords. The track is less punk and more post-punk, and the guitar playing highlights this. The guitar reverts from distortion to clean tone with more explorative guitar playing with techniques such as sweep picking and high bends.  

The final track U Should Not Be Doing That pays tribute to Australian rock with a melody that is a mixture of The Angels and Midnight Oil. The song is highlighted by Gus Romer’s bass riff, which drives the melody of the song with a high amount of treble.  

Cartoon Darkness is out today (25 October), and to celebrate the album drop Amyl and The Sniffers have announced an Australia and New Zealand tour for early next year.

You May Also Like

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *