Come and take a trip to the “Roman Baths” with It Thing.
The Melbourne-via-Hobart post-punk band announced a new EP, Spirit Level, last week, and dropped the searing lead single from the record at the same time.
“Roman Baths” is everything one has come to expect from It Thing: angular, agitated post-punk bursting with danceable energy, with Charlotte Gigi’s animated vocals leading from the front superbly.
“‘Roman Baths’ is about the ruins left by ancient civilisation, the baths were originally said to possess healing properties, but have since become acidic. It’s about the human desire to better ourselves, and belief in ancient humans being able to help modern humans,” Gigi shares.
The full EP, meanwhile, is “basically themed around how humans have never changed. Always nostalgic, always wishing for what we don’t have, always violent, always wanting for the same basic things.”
You can watch the accompanying music video for “Roman Baths,” produced by cinematographer James Morris, below. The clip sees Gigi drifting along a notable spot in their adopted city, St Kilda Esplanade – the one from that Paul Kelly song – with the full band featuring looping shadows and projections of arthouse films of yesteryear.
This is It Thing’s second time featuring in our Song You Need to Know series, following last year’s double 7″ single “Constant State” / “P.C.H..”
As Gigi explained at the time of release, “Constant State” was “about my eternally waxing and waning mental state — just trying to run a balance between feeling some extreme emotion and then feeling stagnant and dead.”
Spirit Level arrives on August 30th, and the EP is available for pre-order now on limited edition cassette. It Thing’s EP is being released via the ever reliable Marthouse Records (Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice, Gut Health).
To celebrate their new EP, It Thing will hit the road on their first-ever national tour, supporting label mates Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice up and down the east coast this August and September, kicking off in Byron Bay this Friday (more information here).
It Thing’s “Roman Baths” is out now. Spirit Level EP is out August 30th via Marthouse Records (pre-order here).
