Australia has a fine legacy of brash, caustic bands, but none have ever been so raw or erratic as Melbourne’s Tropical Fuck Storm. A band who gleefully declared themselves “the most fucked-up band there is”, Tropical Fuck Storm have spent the last few years delivering aggressive, visceral, and downright brilliant albums, but today, they’ve revealed a far more relaxed new single.
Titled ‘New Romeo Agent’, the new cut is the latest to be taken from their highly anticipated third album, ‘Deep States’, which is slated to drop on August 20th this year. Featuring guitarist Erica Dunn taking on lead vocals, it’s a single build on woozy feedback, ambling synths and a pulsating bass, driving forward with restless energy and plenty of typically bewildering flourishes.
Written as a continuation of Octavia Butler’s 2003 sci-fi short story ‘Amnesty’, ‘New Romeo Agent’ follows the tragic love story of a human translator sent to infiltrate an alien community Cold War Romeo-style. Dunn unravelled the narrative of ‘New Romeo Agent’ in a press statement.
“As our human/alien Amores connect in an intimate new language, they decide to make a run for it,” she wrote. “We glimpse an oasis of hope in defiance of the violence and backstabbery of their masters. We imagine a tropical island of romance in an icy sea devoid of solar warmth.
“We look back on the spinning wheel of progress and feel that all the desperation, despair and heartache of the past could finally be worth it for this moment, a conquest of love! A clock striking for a new age! But they get murdered. The end. Brutal.”
The music video, directed by frequent collaborator Oscar O’Shea, sees the band play the song karaoke-style in an intergalactic dive bar while being held captive. Check it out below.
The fourth single to be taken from the new album, following ‘Suburbiopia’, ‘Legal Ghost’, and ‘G.A.F.F.’ which were premiered earlier in the year, ‘New Romeo Agent’ showcases a more evolved sound from the band, setting the bar for the record ever higher.
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