Sub Pop signs Toronto’s Kiwi Jr. and shares video for new single
Single release: Out now
Label: Mint Records
More info: Sub Pop’s website
Sub Pop has signed the Toronto, Ontario-based Kiwi Jr. to a worldwide deal and will release the band’s full-length label debut in 2021. Ahead of that release is “Undecided Voters,” Kiwi Jr.’s darkly comic new single and official video, which is available today on all DSPs worldwide through Sub Pop, and in Canada through the band’s Kiwi Club imprint.
Shot live on location at a candidates debate between two horse jockeys in a church basement, the “Undecided Voters” video plays with the absurdity of elections as sport and entertainment. Kiwi Jr. provides the soundtrack to the sordid affair, while local news reporters stalk the perimeter trying to piece together the scene inside.
Kiwi Jr. had this to offer on the single: "We all know UNDECIDED VOTERS: democracy's driftwood, the third planks in the flotsam that purple the pie chart, always on sight and never a part of the scene. Placing imminent demise neatly to one side, KIWI JR. concentrate on the real Issues: the terrible alliance between King Crab and the timezones; 3D printing causing mass sculptor redundancies; and the playlist at the Duane Reade. After all, who is it we're really voting for: Spartacus or the dead?”
Sub Pop first became acquainted with Kiwi Jr.’s music via the band’s debut, Football Money. The album, which was released in 2019 from the Canadian label Mint Records and eventually internationally in January 2020 through Persona Non Grata/Kiwi Club, was released to unanimous international praise.
Kiwi Jr. is Jeremy Gaudet (mic, guitar), Brohan Moore (drums), Mike Walker (bass), and Brian Murphy (guitar).
What people have said about Kiwi Jr.’s Football Money:
"Each [song] is filled to the rafters with deliriously catchy riffs. [It's] one of those rare albums that gets better the more you play it as all those wonderful throw-away lines get lodged in your head until the next one knocks it out.... There is something about Kiwi Jr. that is hard to ignore. They sound like a mixture of all the best bits of R.E.M., The Kinks, The Strokes, The Modern Lovers, Pavement and Lou Reed..." [8/10] - CLASH
"While stuffing itself with enough insight to force its listeners to acknowledge issues, there's enough charm and wit to remind us the importance of having a little fun along the way." - DIY
"Delightfully sharp indie-pop." - The i Paper
"An instantly accessible set of addictive tunes.” - Louder Than War
“With a vim and focus that recalls early Strokes… tautly tuneful jangle channels the Modern Lovers, the Cars and Pavement with hooks that dig in deep and stay there.” ★★★★- MOJO
"Stacks of melodic joy" - Music OMH
"There's no sense in resisting the playful jangle of Kiwi Jr." - NPR Music
"With easy hooks, surprise structural twists, and a gift for non-sequiturs, the Canadian quartet’s debut is a vivid portrait of the big-city struggle...Gaudet has such a witty way with one-liners, and the band is so effervescent in their execution, that it’s easy to overlook the elevated level of craft at work." - Pitchfork
“With impressionistic lyrics, breathless Jonathan Richman meets Richard Hell vocals, and more than a passing nod to early REM, Kiwi Jr re-imagine punk and folk-rock as part of the same glorious lineage.” ★★★★ - Shindig!
"Packs a melodic punch — one that, echoing its most infectious track, will you leave you chanting 'gimme more gimme more more more'." - UNCUT
"Truly infectious” - The Wire
