20 October 2023 - 0 Comments

The buzz around Swallow the Rat's new album South Locust continues with their new single Cave.

Drummer Hayden Fritchley takes up the vocals on Cave, and says the track is "a short and prickly song built around a rolling pummeling bassline, which I had been playing to a drum loop over and over for days during the last (and longest?) Auckland lockdown. Brian's guitar sequence then adds tension by working against the grain. Lyrically it reflects some of the social dynamics of that time."

The first single from South Locust, Terra Nullius, landed at No. 1 on the SRN Top Ten, and No. 2 on the Radioscope Alt airplay chart . If you haven't yet had a chance yet to check out the video, here you go – leading up to Halloween, it's well worth a watch!

Swallow the Rat's next single Redactor's Dilemma  is attracting attention too, with the video picking up 6k views so far.

South Locust – it’s an eerie street sign half glimpsed at night somewhere in North Texas, an apocalyptic marker. But it also suggests other images and meanings; what’s a locust down here at the bottom of the world, in Aotearoa?

Lyrically, the floodgates have opened. Looking over their shoulders, Swallow the Rat survey the legacy of colonialism, neoliberalism and the internet, as well as broken friendships, and things torn apart as if by a locust cloud.

South Locust is out digitally, and on very limited edition solid white 12" vinyl, via US/UK label Shifting Sounds . If you grab a copy on vinyl, you'll also get unlimited streaming via Bandcamp, plus a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Swallow the Rat live dates

Friday Live on the 95bFM Drive show
Friday 27th October with Beastwars
4pm - 7pm
More information

Flying Out instore performance
80 Pitt Street, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Saturday 28th October
2pm - 3pm
More information

Swallow the Rat, Boneshakers, Lesbian Death Sluts From Hell
605 Morningside
605 New North Rd, Morningside, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Saturday 28th October
8pm
Tickets from Under the Radar
Facebook event page

Quicksand (US) with Mothra and Swallow the Rat
The Mothership
7 Shortland St, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Saturday 16th December
More information

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