Merchandise Announce New Album + European Tour

Track Of The Day:  Merchandise - 'Flower of Sex'

Merchandise have announced details of their new album, A Corpse Wired For Sound, due for release on September 23rd, alongside the video for a second new track, ‘End Of The Week’.

Formed nearly a decade ago, galvanized by Tampa hardcore and inspired by its miscreant noise, A Corpse Wired For Sound signals a new chapter for Merchandise.

Following 2014’s After The End — a full-band effort recorded in a closet — the band stripped back to its core of Carson Cox (vocals, electronics), Dave Vassalotti (guitar, electronics) and Pat Brady (bass). The trio travelled to Rosà, Italy for their first ever sessions in a recording studio, with a local, ICIO. The nine-song nocturnal A Corpse Wired For Sound was recorded half in the studio and half at home, in Tampa as well as Cox’s newly adopted bases of New York and Berlin – the culmination of a long-distance collaboration between Cox and Vassalotti.

The album’s metallic title is inspired by a science fiction short story by JG Ballard, but equally sums up the band’s current state of mind. “We were ‘reborn’ as a rock band for After The End,” says Vassalotti, “and then we straight-up died again. It couldn’t last. The result is this distended corpse responding to you from both sides of the Atlantic, forever singing in spite of everything.” Cox continues further “It’s about the truth of growing up. You can’t take your friends or lovers with you. It’s about finding peace with that loneliness.”

The second song to be aired from A Corpse Wired For Sound, ‘End Of The Week’ is “really about personal reflection and horror,” says Cox, who is responsible for the song’s visuals (he also created the video for lead single ‘Flower Of Sex’). The video is a subliminal homage to Italian film director Michelangelo Antonioni and his motion pictures Blow Up and Zabriskie Point. “The smashed mirror isn’t just a symbol of death,” Cox continues. “It’s the broken image of humanity reflecting back at everyone when they read the news. Reality is an unbearable pill to swallow this year. Somehow the evil people that make up society can still wake up everyday and look at themselves in the mirror.”

Watch the video for ‘End Of The Week’ below:

Merchandise will make a welcome live return this Autumn, beginning in north America before heading across the Atlantic for shows in the UK and Europe. A full list of dates can be found at the band’s site here, with UK and European dates below.

MERCHANDISE TOUR DATES
October

26th – Tape, Aarhus, Denmark
27th – Stengade, Copenhagen, Denmark
28th – Nr.z.P, Bielefeld, Germany
29th – Westwerk, Leipzig, Germany
30th – Tiefgrund, Berlin, Germany
31st – S105, Amsterdam, Netherlands

November

2nd – The Lexington, London, UK
3rd – The Castle Hotel, Manchester, UK
4th – Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham, UK
5th – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK
7th – Rotonde – Botanique, Brussels, Belgium
8th – Mecanique Ondulatoire, Paris, France
10th – Rössli, Bern, Switzerland
12th – i Vizi del Pellicano, Correggio, Italy
13th – C.S. Rivolta, Marghera, Italy
14th – Mocvara, Zagreb, Croatia
15th – Posthof, Linz, Austria
16th – Café V lese, Prague, Czech Republic

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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