The Murlocs have shared details of their forthcoming sixth studio album, ‘Rapscallion’, as well as its lead single.
The album, which was announced today (July 13), is the follow-up to last year’s ‘Bittersweet Demons’. It will be their first album released under their own imprint, Uncle Murl, as well as their first distributed by Virgin Australia.
To coincide with the album’s announcement, the band have shared lead single ‘Virgin Criminal’. The video, directed by Guy Tyzack, depicts frontman Ambrose Kenny-Smith on the run from a bikie played by actor Anton Kormoczi. Watch it below:
In a press statement, the band said that the song is “about that shot of adrenaline you get when you break [the] rules for the first time”.
“Some people chase cheap thrills their whole lives, whilst others stick between the lines and play by the rules,” they said. “Even the smallest bit of crime can go horribly wrong at any given moment, so you’ve gotta watch yourself.”
‘Rapscallion’ was self-produced by The Murlocs themselves, and recorded in the band members’ own homes. According to Ambrose-Smith, the album is loosely conceptual. “I ended up coming with a story of a teenage boy who’s the black sheep of his family, and one day decides to leave home and travel to the city on his own,” he said.
“It was a nice way to escape at a time when we couldn’t go anywhere, and made me feel like I was a feral kid again.”
Kenny-Smith went on to note that it was “exciting to write in a different way” on the album, and that the concept allowed him to “live vicariously through that character”.
“I hope when people hear the album they really dig deep into the world of the story we’ve created, and it gives them that same sensation of traveling into the unknown,” he concluded.
‘Rapscallion’ is set for release on September 16. The full tracklist and album art can be viewed below, and the album can be both pre-ordered and pre-saved here. Following its release, the band will tour in North America – including several dates with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, of which both Kenny-Smith and bassist Cook Craig are members.
The Murlocs’ ‘Rapscallion’ tracklist is:
1. ‘Subsidiary’
2. ‘Bellarine Ballerina’
3. ‘Living Under A Rock’
4. ‘Bobbing And Weaving’
5. ‘Farewell To Clemency’
6. ‘Compos Mentis’
7. ‘The Royal Vagabond’
8. ‘Virgin Criminal’
9. ‘Bowlegged Beautiful’
10. ‘Wickr Man’
11. ‘The Ballad of Peggy Mae’
12. ‘Growing Pains’
