Automatic announce new album Excess
Automatic – the trio of Izzy Glaudini (synths, lead vocals), Lola Dompé (drums, vocals) and Halle Saxon (bass) – is back with their second album, Excess.
Watch the video for “New Beginning”, directed by Ambar Navarro below.
Pre-order Excess on vinyl and deluxe eco-mix vinyl here.
On Excess, Automatic synthesizes a new strain of retrofuturist motorik pop. The album rides the imaginary edge where the ‘70s underground met the corporate culture of the ‘80s – or, as the band puts it, “That fleeting moment when what was once cool quickly turned and became mainstream, all for the sake of consumerism.”
Using this point in time as a lens through which to view the present moment, Excess takes aim at corporate culture and extravagance via the medium of icy motorik pop songs. The overarching themes of alienation and escapism emerged as Automatic put Excess together, taking writing retreats to flesh out the new songs before decamping to the studio for sprint recording sessions with producer Joo Joo Ashworth (Sasami, FROTH).
On “New Beginning” – inspired by the Swedish sci-fi film Aniara – Automatic reject the false hope of leaving behind a scorched planet and searching for “a better place”, at a moment when the ultra-rich are eyeing manned space travel: “In the service of desire / We will travel far away”. Imagining the “nihilism and loneliness” of attempting to escape the planet once unchecked consumerism has reached its logical outcome, the song pictures being “stranded in a space-void with no connection to Earth or humanity.” In the video directed by Ambar Navarro, a trip to space starts out fun before taking a dark turn.
The mirrored bodice on the album’s cover – shot at California’s Salton Sea, a site of environmental decay – reflects the present day Automatic explores on Excess: distorted and chaotic with a sleek sheen. But Excess’ final message is one of solidarity, rather than despair. As Izzy puts it, "The record is about what happens to our psyches when we’re conditioned to certain values, the consequences of those values, and a desire to resist them."
Automatic will open for Parquet Courts and Tame Impala this Spring and play at Cruel World Festival, then will head to Europe for a run of shows including Wide Awake (UK), Primavera Sound (Spain), and Best Kept Secret (NL), before returning to open for Osees in September. More shows are to be announced; see below for a full list of dates.
AUTOMATIC TOUR DATES
US (with Parquet Courts)
Apr 22 WA Seattle Showbox
Apr 23 BC Vancouver Imperial
Apr 25 OR Portland Crystal Ballroom
Apr 27 CA Oakland Fox
Apr 28 CA Los Angeles Wiltern
US
May 14-15 CA Los Angeles Cruel World Festival
US (with Tame Impala)
May 26 OH Columbus KEMBA Live! Festival Stage
May 28 NC Wilmington Live Oak Bank Pavilion
UK & EUROPE
May 28 UK London Wide Awake
May 29 UK Liverpool Future Yard
May 30 UK Leeds Headrow House
May 31 UK Brighton Green Door Store
June 1 FR Lille La Bulle Cafe
June 2 FR Paris L'international
June 3 FR Angers Levitation
June 4 ES Barcelona Primavera
June 5 ES Barcelona Primavera
June 8 IT Ravenna Beaches Brew
June 9 CH Aarau Kiff (with Choir Boy & Soft Kill)
June 10 CH Neuchatel Festineuch
June 11 DE Mannheim Maifeld Derbi
June 12 NL Hilvarenbeek Best Kept Secret
June 13 NL Amsterdam Bitterzoet
June 14 NL Nijmegen Merleyn
June 15 DE Berlin UFO Sound Studios
June 16 DE Koln Bumann & Sohn
June 17 BE Charlerois Fete De La Musique
June 18 NL Den Haag Grauzone
US (with Osees)
Sept 5 San Francisco Chapel
Sept 6 San Francisco Chapel
Sept 7 San Francisco Chapel
Sept 9 Portland Roseland
Sept 10 Seattle Neumos
Sept 11 Seattle Neumos
Automatic - Excess album track listing:
1. New Beginning
2. On The Edge
3. Skyscraper
4. Realms
5. Venus Hour
6. Automation
7. Teen Beat
8. NRG
9. Lucy
10. Turn Away
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