Video: Cleopatrick Share New Single 'PLEASE' From Sophomore Album
Listen to cleopatrick's new song from their upcoming album.
Toronto’s cleopatrick return with a new single, “PLEASE,” also announcing their sophomore album, FAKE MOON, for a March 14 release via Nowhere Special Recordings/Thirty Tigers. Working with producer Philip Weinrobe (Adrianne Lenker/Hand Habits/Tomberlin) at his Brooklyn studio, the sessions for FAKE MOON mark the first time the band expanded their existing creative bubble, helping to drive the growth in their sonic palette and songwriting.
Discussing the single and video, guitarist/vocalist Luke Gruntz notes, “‘PLEASE’ is about the implicit forces that pull us to belong - the comforting and consuming magnetism of the collective. It’s kind of a love song, an acknowledgement and acceptance of something fundamental. There’s a gradual surrender and slow unraveling in the recording — like the sound itself is subject to the same cosmic pull I'm singing about. By the end of the track, all the instruments are being torn apart digitally. Phil (Weinrobe) had almost the entire mix running through an old Roland 303 sampler that mangled the audio into this beautiful, slushy mess of missing information and usurped data. and so the concept loops back on itself eternally. I like to call this 'LAPTOP ROCK’.
The video was shot by our friend and longtime collaborator Ryan Faist AKA boywonder. We wanted the video to look like a scene from a movie, more than a music video, showing a young guy experiencing the pull of the collective."
Written at pace, between the basement studio at Luke’s family home in Ontario, his Toronto apartment, and even on a drum machine and acoustic guitar in his car, when it came to recording, Luke and Ian Fraser slowed the process and expanded their crew for the first time. They enlisted respected guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Haldeman and the expertise of producer Weinrobe. Together they shaped the sound from a demo-led, “as long as it feels good, it sounds good” approach, where the angular recordings from the pair’s instinctive style of throwing up mics and tracking on whatever device was closest formed its foundations. A distinct statement of sound and color, the result recaps cleopatrick to date; piecing together and reworking shards of earlier demos across media and formats.
Embarking upon a post-rock voyage with hip-hop and lo-fi folk baked in, FAKE MOON takes the guys closer to their influences than ever before; perhaps you’ll hear magical songwriting and production akin to their playlist staples Radiohead, glints of Dijon’s surreal but grounded Absolutely, the sonic confidence of Mk.gee shimmering through, or the fret squeaks of favorites since high school, Califone.
With time to catch up on their listening, and space for bigger picture thinking in response to imposing government lockdown rule, Luke’s curiosity around misinformation and conspiracy grew. Beckoned into a black hole of spectacular internet theories, magical speculation, and bizarre conversations, he happened upon a YouTube video debunking "the best phone for astrophotography" which exposed how its filter technology could transform even a lamp light into a lunar landscape. “The fake moon idea kept resurfacing,” Luke recalls. “It symbolizes how every human sees the same object in the sky but the way information flows, how humans are, and how the world works means we’ll never see it the same way.”
Whilst other artists may write via the age-old rock trope of retaliation, FAKE MOON surrenders to a higher power in the pursuit of peace whilst navigating the psychological effect such action might take. For fans of the band, used to an all out sonic assault, the rumblings of FAKE MOON, are more configured with the realignment of The Notwist 20+ years prior, and bring to mind stalwarts such as Slint and Pinback.
Nominated for Canada’s 2022 JUNO Award as “Breakthrough Group of the Year,” cleopatrick have amassed over 100 million streams alongside multiple sell-out tours in the U.S., UK, and EU, performed at festivals Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and Reading/Leeds, and supported Royal Blood on their U.S. tour. The band will head out across the UK and Ireland in March.
Tour Dates:
03/18 - Brighton, UK @ Chalk
03/19 - Bristol, UK @ SWX
03/21 - Nottingham, UK @ Rock City
03/22 - Manchester, UK @ Academy 2
03/23 - Dublin, IE @ The Academy
03/25 - Glasgow, UK @ TV Studio, SWG3
03/26 - Leeds, UK @ Stylus, Leeds University
03/28 - Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institut 2
03/29 - London, UK @ Electric Brixton
Photo Credit: Ryan Faist |
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