Welsh “scary metallers” Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard have emerged from their nest to release a brand-new single from their highly anticipated sophomore album “Skinwalker.” The album will drop on April 12th via Communion Records, promising another dose of their energetic spirit and subtle ’70s flair but with a darker sound and aesthetic, with the band having taken inspiration from found-footage horror and the Navajo concept of the Skinwalker – a legendary malevolent shapeshifter – from which the album takes its name.
New single “In My Egg” provides a taste of what’s to come. It’s a harmony-filled rocker reflecting frontman Tom Rees’ struggles with leaving his comfort zone during a solitary songwriting retreat last year. “I foolishly went to a cottage for five days … thinking I would participate in some kind of cerebral orgy that would gift me ‘ten hot bangers’,” Rees explains. “Instead, I wrote about fifteen horrible songs that made no sense and all sounded like weird Take That B-sides.”
After advice from his dog Norma – who told him to get his shit together, apparently – Rees penned “In My Egg,” a song that chronicles wanting to go home and admitting he lacked the fortitude for solo trips. ” I’m not made for trips away, at least by myself, I don’t have the mental fortitude. I thought I was strong, but I’m totally not, and that’s okay I suppose,” he says. It’s a moment of vulnerability amidst the band’s trademark bravado.
Thematically, each track on the forthcoming album is designed to take you through descending floors of Rees’s mind each becoming more horrific than the last with the Skinwalker at the final floor, representing his inner fears, self-sabotage, hatred, and self-doubt. It’s a deeply intimate record of self-analysis and personal growth told through heavy fuzz-drenched guitars, a crushing rhythm section, and fevered vocals.
The band stretches their musical muscles across the album, venturing into new sonic territory. “Human Compression” conjures a dreamy, desert-rock aura as Rees’ sings about his intense self-imposed pressure. Meanwhile, “Night Of The Skinwalker” fuses psychedelic glam rock over Rees’ vocals that centre around his internal struggles with self-uncertainty.
“Skinwalker” was written and recorded at frontman and producer Rees’ Rat Trap Studio, the room where Rees has previously recorded and produced tracks for emerging talent – Panic Shack, Do Nothing and The Bug Club.
The Cardiff quartet are currently on tour across the UK, and in April and May they will continue on to Europe, where they will continue to showcase their new material.
The full tour dates are as follows:
MARCH 2024
13 – St Albans, The Horn
14 – Ramsgate, Music Hall
16 – Peterborough, Met Lounge
17 – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
18 – Hull, Adelphi Club
20 – Stockton, Ku Bar
21 – Sunderland, Independent
22 – Edinburgh, Voodoo Rooms
24 – Grimsby, Docks Academy
25 – York, The Fulford Arms
26 – Clitheroe, The Swan & Royal
27 – Frome, The Tree House
APRIL
02 – Rotterdam, Netherlands, V11
03 – Paris, France, L’International
04 – Hasselt, Belgium, Café Café
Tickets for the tour are now on sale here.
“Skinwalker” drops this coming 12th April via Communion Records and you can pre-order it here.
Photo credit: Charlie Harris
