Flamingods Announce Fifth Album 'Head Of Pomegranate' With New Single Gutterball
Wednesday, 05 July 2023
Written by Jon Stickler
Photo: Tanmay Chowhary & Genevieve Reyes
Flamingods will release their fifth album this autumn.
The long-awaited follow-up to 2019's 'Levitation' is called 'Head Of Pomegranate' and will arrive on October 13.
Recorded over a month in Atlanta, Georgia with Grammy Award-winning producer Ben H. Allen, it's preceded by the punchy track Gutterball, which marries fuzzy psychedelic synths with Middle Eastern elements over a distorted bass-led groove. It follows the spring single Dreams (On The Strip).
The record's title comes from the Arabic translation of Ras Rumman رأس الرمان; the name of the village in Bahrain where Pomegranates are grown, and where founding member Kamal Rasool's late father grew up. Rasool lost his dad to COVID-19 while writing the LP, and that influenced the record's direction. He said:
"By the end of our last album campaign ['Levitation'] we were very close to throwing in the towel. Making this album felt a bit like our redemption moment. It helped us through a lot – including my grieving process. Getting to work with Ben was a dream come true, we grew up listening to records he made. It felt like he was the missing piece we had been looking for."
About the new song, he added: "Gutterball came to be simply by us wanting to create a Middle Eastern inspired punk / new wave track that would kill when we played it live. We hooked up our Turkish Saz guitar to a tonne of fuzz and looped distorted bass and synthesizers over Sam’s repetitively tight beats.
"I wanted to mess around with political/satirical themes for the song, looking to protests and revolution for inspiration.. The mantra of the song is ‘Spit it out’ - if something is rotten you don’t swallow it."
Following various summer festival appearances, the four-piece will support the LP with a headline UK tour this November. Tickets are on sale.
'Head Of Pomegranate' tracklist:
1. Dreams (On The Strip)
2. Adana
3. The Dip
4. Dirty Money
5. Gutterball
6. Born Lucky
7. Volta Rocket
8. Tall Glass
9. Perfumed Garden
10. Eastern Cowboys
11. Head of Pomegranate
Flamingods Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Fri October 06 2023 - GUERNSEY St James
Sat November 04 2023 - MARGATE Where Else?
Wed November 08 2023 - CAMBRIDGE Portland Arms
Thu November 09 2023 - LONDON Scala
Thu November 16 2023 - BIRMINGHAM Hare And Hounds
Fri November 17 2023 - SHEFFIELD Yellow Arch Studio
Sat November 18 2023 - STROUD Brunel Goods Shed
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