In just a few days, Melbourne punk outfit Amyl & The Sniffers will release their sophomore album, Comfort To Me. Prior to that, they’ve released a kickass new video for “Hertz,” featuring frontperson Amy Taylor bashing around an empty warehouse and kicking the ocean. Additionally, the band has announced a livestream where they’ll perform Comfort To Me in full on October 5.
“‘Hertz’ is a daydream of wanting to go to the country/bush and see landscapes other than the city,” Taylor opened up in a statement. “It was written in 2019 but it very much sounds like a pandemic song, because it’s a daydream about being repulsed by confinement, and frustrated over being stuck in one place.”
Back in July, Taylor opened up about recording Comfort To Me, which arrives on September 10:
“All four of us spent most of 2020 enclosed by pandemic authority in a three-bedroom rental in our home city of Melbourne, Australia. We’re like a family: we love each other and feel nothing at the same time. We had just come off two years of touring, being stuck in a van together eight hours a day, and then we’re trapped together for months in this house with sick green walls. It sucked but it was also nice. We spent heaps of time in the backyard listening to music, thrashing around in shorts, eating hot chips. The boys had a hard time being away from the pub and their mates, but it meant we had a lot of time to work on this record. Most of the songs were really intuitive. Main thing, we just wanted it to be us.”
She added, “If you have to explain what this record is like, I reckon it’s like watching an episode of The Nanny but the setting is an Australian car show and the Nanny cares about social issues and she’s read a couple of books, and Mr Sheffield is drinking beer in the sun. It’s a Mitsubishi Lancer going slightly over the speed limit in a school zone. It’s realizing how good it is to wear track pants in bed. It’s having someone who wants to cook you dinner when you’re really shattered. It’s me shadow-boxing on stage, covered in sweat, instead of sitting quietly in the corner.”
Watch “Hertz” above.
Comfort To Me is out 9/10 via ATO/Rough Trade. Pre-order it here.