Amyl and the Sniffers are back with new music. The band have today announced their second album, Comfort To Me, which will be out on Friday, 10th September via B2B Records. They’ve also shared the first single from the album, titled ‘Guided By Angels’. Comfort To Me is the follow up to the band’s self-titled, ARIA Award-winning 2019 debut.
The record was largely written during the thick of the pandemic lockdowns, with the band getting the majority of the songwriting on lock during a close-quarters quarantine.
“The nihilistic, live in the moment, positivity and panel beater rock-meets-shed show punk was still there, but it was better,” commented lead singer Amy Taylor. “The whole thing was less spontaneous and more darkly considered.”
In the official statement, she speaks on the considerable amount of time and thought that went into the record, particularly in comparison to the band’s previous long-form releases.
“Half of the lyrics were written during the Australian bushfire season when we were already wearing masks to protect ourselves from the smoke in the air. And then when the pandemic hit, our options were the same as everyone: go find a day job and work in intense conditions or sit at home and drown in introspection. I fell into the latter category.
“I had all this energy inside of me and nowhere to put it because I couldn’t perform, and it had a hectic effect on my brain. My brain evolved and warped and my way of thinking about the world completely changed.”
Upon rumination, she realised that her lack of power throughout the events of 2020 led her to the realisation that she was feeling “both more self-destructive and more self-disciplined, more nihilistic and more depressed and more resentful, which ultimately fuelled me with a kind of relentless motivation.”
“I became a temporary monster. I partied more, but I also exercised heaps, read books and ate veggies. I was like an egg going into boiling water when this started, gooey and weak but with a hard surface. I came out even harder. I’m still soft on the inside, but in a different way.”
The album, produced by Nick Launay (Nick Cave, IDLES, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and mastered by Bernie Grundman (Prince, Michael Jackson) will be 13 tracks long.
‘Guided By Angels’ comes as the first taste of the new record. It has been released with an accompanying video clip, directed by John Angus Stewart for PHC Films.
