Jade Imagine dive in with “Hot Bath”.
The Melbourne four-piece’s new single is a scuzzy, post-punk jam that sees them back in the scene and firing on all cylinders.
Sound-wise, with moody vocals, crunchy guitars, and a tight rhythm section, it’s Dry Cleaning meets Stereolab with a dash of Sonic Youth.
Engineered and mixed by longtime collaborator Tim Harvey, the single drops a year after the band’s well-received second album Cold Memory.
They say their sound now leans into “synthesis, krautrock/hypnotic repetition, and vocoder/effected vocals.”
A remix of “Hot Bath” from Jay Watson (GUM, Pond, Tame Impala) will also drop on March 12th.
The track also comes with a Super 8-shot music video directed by Hugo Kohler, featuring bassist Madeline Lo-Booth and starring Jules Cabaj (watch above).
Lo-Booth explains, “Listening to ‘Hot Bath’, I wanted to visually express that feeling of being in your own little world, and feeling free and happy on your own accord from a really simple pleasure. I always think super 8 is good at capturing that tone, it makes things feel bright without an actor having to forcibly communicate it with their face.
“A lot of Jules’ expressions in the bath are quite ambiguous, which is perfect because she’s not deliriously happy even if things turn a bit psychedelic.
“Before we made the clip, I had watched the 1968 film The Swimmer which follows a deluded man as he tries to swim his way home through his neighbours’ pools in a posh American suburb. I really liked that concept of being irrationally driven towards something quite simple.
“Co-director Hugo liked the idea of being sucked down the drain and we enjoyed the challenge of expressing that, which led to a lot of fun experimentation and the swirling motif. So together we generated this narrative that’s based on this cyclical drive: each time Jules is spat out she comes back for another bath. It’s not clear how she gets anywhere, or where she is, but there’s a real joy while she’s in motion that mimics the rhythm and feeling of the song.”
Jade Imagine’s “Hot Bath” is out now. The remix by Jay Watson (GUM) is out March 12th.
