shame share ‘Nigel Hitter’, a brand new single taken from their long-anticipated new album Drunk Tank Pink – out 15th January 2021 via Dead Oceans. The track is premiered today on BBC Radio 1 as Annie Mac’s ‘Hottest Record in the World’ and follows previously released singles ‘Alphabet’, ‘Water in the Well’ and ‘Snow Day’.
Alongside, the band have shared a Maxim Kelly directed video which repurposes archival footage from old research centres on the development of children. Using deepfake technology, the babies start to lip sync along with the song, while the band cameo as chin-stroking scientists.
Grinding into gear via a heavy, driving bassline, the track opens up to a mesh of guitars which motor the song through its stirring hooks and explosive vocal delivery. There’s a similar, gripping unpredictability running throughout Drunk Tank Pink; a bold and ambitious new record which marks a sonic leap forward for the band.
‘Nigel Hitter’ started life as the band readjusted to a new normal back home, having spent much of their adult life on tour, something with frontman Charlie Steen spills out lyrically (‘I’m burning at both ends naturally…’) throughout Drunk Tank Pink. On ‘Nigel Hitter’, he explains:
“Nigel Hitter is one of the vital organs of Drunk Tank Pink. A necessary pulse. Focused on daily routine, repetition, and how extraordinary any ordinary task seemed to me after coming home from touring. A world of percussion and joy lies within.”