Earth Tongue’s second album is here.
Titled Great Haunting, the fuzz-rock duo have created an almighty racket (that’s complimentary) on their new album, out today.
Gussie Larkin (vocals, guitar) and Ezra Simons (vocals, drums) successfully build on the promise of their first album, 2019’s Floating Being, exploring a more energetic sound on Great Haunting.
The album was recorded at the Karangahape Road studio of The Beths‘ Jonathan Pearce. Some songs were rewritten during recording, some were even dropped entirely as Larkin and Simons carefully curated their vision of Great Haunting.
And the bond shared between the pair brought an additional dimension to their creative process.
“Being in a relationship brings an extra element of trust to the band,” Larkin says. “There is a kind of telepathy that goes on between us when we are playing live, especially with tricky starts and stops. When we record we sing together, on opposite sides of the room. It helps us lock in and makes it a way more fun to record.”
Earth Tongue’s new album features the blistering single “Out of This Hell”, which was named as a Rolling Stone AU/NZ Song You Need to Know in May.
The theatrical single was loosely based on the bubonic plague, capturing the imagery of plucky physicians who tended to plague victims in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The accompanying music video, directed by Levi Cranston, was filmed against the stunning backdrop of Anawhata and Whites Beach on the west coast of Auckland. A gothic horror fantasy soon emerged, and Larkin couldn’t wait to “unleash some screams like a wannabe scream queen.”
Great Haunting also contains the singles “Bodies Dissolve Tonight!” and “Grave Pressure”, the latter of which also came accompanied by another cinematic music video, shot on 16mm film by Tom Mannion and inspired by classic B-horror films of the ’70s and ’80s.
There’s also “Nightmare”, which Simons says is “an unusual track” for Earth Tongue.
“It’s an upbeat, high-energy track with a hectic and aggressive feel,” he explains. “It’s about someone avoiding their conscious life by escaping into their nightmares, and it was one of the very last songs to be added to the album.”
“Nightmare” has another Cranston-directed music video, which follows Larkin as she spirals further into isolation sickness, tormented by a mysterious figure in a black cloak.
Now based in Europe as they tour the continent in support of Ty Segall, Earth Tongue recently wrapped up an Aotearoa tour, which followed a showcase at SXSW and a support slot for US rock titans Queens of the Stone Age in Auckland.
Earth Tongue’s Great Haunting is out now via In the Red Records.
