Swallow The Rat – Redactor’s Dilemma: New Song Of The Day

Swallow The Rat have releases a new single titled Redactor’s Dilemma featuring Dead Little Penny’s Hayley Fisher.

Here’s the blurb:

Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau’s Swallow the Rat have made quite an impact with their single ‘Terra Nullius’ and its very clever video.

Released in July, ‘Terra Nullius’ has so far reached No.1 on the 95bFM Top Ten for two weeks in a row, No. 6 on the RadioScope Alternative Chart, No. 4 on the Radio One Top 11, and has also been shown lots of love by the other Aotearoa Student Radio Network stations (Radio Active, Radio Control, RDU), as well as The Most FM – thank you all!

Today, Swallow the Rat follow it up with new single ‘Redactor’s Dilemma’. As with all of the band’s songs, the lyrics delve into intriguing territory.

Songwriter Stephen Horsley says, “The ‘redactor’s dilemma’ is where a censor has to decide how much to censor. If you leave in too much, people will know the secret, but if you edit out too much, then its absence will alert people to that the document has been censored. It kind of ties in with the theme of colonisation in the other songs on the album – things that are uncomfortable and therefore hidden.”

Guest vocals on ‘Redactor’s Dilemma’ by Hayley Fisher of Dead Little Penny add a lovely extra layer to the already mutli-faceted song.

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.

‘Redactor’s Dilemma’ is taken from Swallow the Rat’s forthcoming second album, South Locust, which is due out on September 1st via US label Shifting Sounds.

Listen to ‘Redactor’s Dilemma’ on Bandcamp

Redactor’s Dilemma release links

Follow Swallow the Rat on Facebook 

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.

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.

South Locust release date: September 1, 2023.

Pre-order your copy here.

Swallow the Rat are taking South Locust to Melbourne, and around Te Ika-a-Māui/the North Island, in August and September.

Aotearoa New Zealand

Saturday 8 September    Wine Cellar    Auckland
Friday 15 September    Yot Club    Raglan
Saturday 16 September    Voodoo Lounge    Tauranga
Friday 22 September    Last Place    Hamilton
Saturday 23 September    Common Room    Hastings

Tickets from Under the Radar

Australia (Melbourne) 

Thursday 31 August    Old Bar    Melbourne
Friday 1 September    Cactus Room    Melbourne
Saturday 2 September (All Ages – Afternoon)    Oh! Jean Records    Melbourne
Saturday 2 September (R18 – Evening)         Gasometer    Melbourne

Visit Swallow the Rat on Facebook for more info