Swallow The Rat – Chain Mail: 13th Floor New Song Of The Day

Swallow the Rat release a corporeal video for their new single ‘Chain Mail’, made by Tauranga-based multimedia artist Kyle Sattler (who also makes music as We Will Ride Fast).

Here’s the blurb with more:

‘Chain Mail’ pokes fun at scripted media announcements from political parties in Aotearoa – or announcements within announcements, as the case may be. Originally titled ‘Evil Party’, the band describe it as having a 1990s Touch and Go Records vibe.

When the song was presented to Sattler, he’d been working on some stop motion animation and said he had an idea for a video involving figurative collage. He was given free reign to create his response to the song, and used elements of the lyrics as inspiration, particularly the theme of evil.

‘Chain Mail’ is the fourth single from Swallow the Rat’s highly-acclaimed second album South Locust, released in September last year via US/UK label Shifting Sounds.

South Locust – it’s an eerie street sign half glimpsed at night somewhere in North Texas, an apocalyptic marker. But it also suggests other images and meanings; what’s a locust down here at the bottom of the world, in Aotearoa?

South Locust has received some great reviews, and featured on a number of 2023 best-of lists…

UTR’s 2023 Favourite Music Moments
Daryl Fincham: South Locust – Swallow the Rat – “This tune (‘Cave’) kept me checking the 95bFM website to find out who it was.”
Harry Lilley: South Locust – Swallow the Rat
“This album really landed for me. There’s a wonderful balance between simple space and driving force. Each element interweaves to deliver moments of low-key cathartic guitar music bliss. It’s hard to pick one representative track when the whole record sits so well.”

Doubtful Sounds Favourite Albums 2023
“Another massive year of listening to new albums in this 15th year of Doubtful Sounds. As always, it’s been a pretty amazing 12 months for new albums. A deluge of sorts, from a myriad of genres and a noticeable proclivity for many artists to expand their sound and explore other genres.”
Highly Recommended: Swallow the Rat South Locust 

The Big Takeover: Jack Rabid’s Best Of 2023 (400 Nods Again!)
“Top 200 LPs (New Recordings), Top 140 Retrospective/Reissue Releases, And Top 60 Stand Alone Singles & EPs
– Best New Albums: No.114 Swallow the Rat – South Locust (Shifting Sounds)”

“At one point, Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) trio Swallow The Rat were a post-punk band. But, these days, they are so much more…Lyrical explorations of personal, political, and global issues all featured, and South Locust was another imaginative step up…” – Six Noises (named as one of his favourite Aotearoa albums of 2023)

“Swallow the Rat deliver often exciting Nineties post-punk and powered-up pop (‘Gravois Park’), menacingly low-slung material verging on drone-rock (the standout ‘Mind’) and yet can unexpectedly seduce with more quiet-loud material (‘Small Plates’) and something approaching uneasy pop-rock (‘Idea of the South’, the excellent ‘Redactor’s Dilemma’ with Hayley Fisher’s vocals adding a further dimension of disorientation )…At times they hit a midpoint between aural punishment and quiet threat (the shifting dynamics of ‘Chain Mail’).” – Graham Reid, Elsewhere

“One of the things I love about this gig is that I regularly get introduced to new artists, and every now and then, there’s a standout. That’s what happened with Swallow The Rat…they’re here, they’ve got something to say, and they’re angry about it…the whole album is a window shaker and definitely worth your time.” – Brad Miller, Muzic.net.nz

“South Locust captures the collision of driving riffs and hazy atmosphere that defines Swallow The Rat’s sound – which swings from wiry NZ post-punk to raw shoegaze to post-hardcore to Texas psychedelia.” – Flying Nun

South Locust is out digitally, and on very limited edition solid white 12″ vinyl, via US/UK label Shifting Sounds. If you grab a copy on vinyl, you’ll also get unlimited streaming via Bandcamp, plus a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Follow Swallow the Rat on Facebook 

Live Shows

Twine (Adelaide, SA) with Swallow the Rat and Neither Do I
Wine Cellar, Karangahape Rd, Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau
Thursday 15th Feb
8pm
Tickets from Under the Radar

Swallow the Rat US Tour Dates

1st March, Austin, TX, Hotel Vegas 
2nd March, Tulsa OK, Whittier Bar w/ Professional Golfer, Worship Team & Western Standards
3rd March, Lawrence KS, Replay Lounge w/  Discotek Mama 
4th March, St Louis MO, SinkHole, w/ Sole Loan and Sprite 
5th March, Chicago Il, Burlington, w/ Aitis Band & Godstar Megamax
6th March, Pittsburgh PA, Govt Centre, w/ Olympic Village and Rated Eye   
7th March, Troy NY, No Fun w/ Clone 
8th March, NYC, NY, DIY Venue w/ Clone 
9th March, Baltimore MD, Crown w/ Deadleaf Echo
10th March, Asheville, NC, Fleetwoods w/ Deadleaf Echo and Janx Spirit 
12th March, Okay Bar, NOLA w/ Deadleaf Echo 
13th March to 17th March SXSW Austin TX

Keep up to date here

About South Locust

Emerging post-pandemic as a reinvigorated three piece, Swallow the Rat (guitarist Brian Purington, drummer/vocalist Hayden Fritchley, bassist/vocalist Stephen Horsley) bring a dual vocal attack, where voices soar, growl or reassure, while the stripped down format provides for space and dynamics.

Recorded with acclaimed engineer Nick Abbott (Foals, Die! Die! Die!), mixed remotely in Los Angeles by Sonny Diperri (Protomartyr, Diiv, Animal Collective), and mastered in Chicago by Carl Saff (Sonic Youth), South Locust will be out on September 1st via UK label Shifting Sounds.

The album also features some excellent guest vocalists: Hayley Smith of Dead Little Penny on ‘Mind’, ‘Small Plates’ and ‘Redactor’s Dilemma’; Thom Burton of Guardian Singles on ‘Straight Roads’, and LG Galleon of New York’s Dead Leaf Echo on ‘Gravois Park’.

South Locust follows from last year’s 7” teaser ‘Other Rooms’ (featuring Yuko Miyoshi of Memory Foam).

The album is available for pre-order in a very limited edition run of solid white 12″ vinyl. The moment the album is released you’ll also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Band Highlights:
– Official SXSW (Austin, TX) Showcasing Artist in 2019
– Showcasing Artist at The New Colossus Fest (NYC) 2020
– North American Tour 2020
– Support for Gang of Four, Sebadoh, No Age.
– Melbourne album release shows September 2023

Order South Locust here