After revealing they were in the studio working on new tunes last summer, CanRock supergroup Anyway Gang — the brainchild of Sloan's Chris Murphy, Hollerado's Menno Versteeg, Tokyo Police Club's Dave Monks and Sam Roberts — have finally delivered on their promise of follow-up material to their 2019 self-titled debut.
Today, the four-piece have shared "Alternate View," the first bit of new music from the band since the pandemic shut down operations nearly two years ago. The song — arriving via Versteeg's Royal Mountain Records — comes with its own music video animated by Justin Hess, and follows a "fortune teller named Hyacinthe, who was raised in the circus by her father, the lion tamer."
Versteeg elaborated in a statement:
One day, Hyacinthe looks into her crystal ball and sees her father being eating by the lions. Despite her pleading, her father refuses to look in the ball to see his blood-soaked fate. Sure enough, the gruesome scene transpires and her father is eaten alive.
Hyacinthe is tormented by nightmares and in every fortune she reads she sees nothing but darkness. On a stormy night outside of Denton, TX, she is walking by the lion cage. The beasts whisper to her, to stick her head in their cage so they can end her suffering. As her life flashes before her eyes, she immediately regrets choosing to end her life, but as she recoils, her head gets stuck between the bars of the cage and she blacks out. Fortunately, the Contortionist named Karloff sees this happening and uses his powers of contortionism to climb into the cage and help free her head from the bars.
She awakes with a new outlook. Karloff is constantly standing on his head or walking on his hands and the two of them discuss the importance of looking at everything from a different angle. In a circus life, an alternate view, and a friend to share it with, is the only thing that can keep you sane. That's the story of Hyacinthe and The Contortionist.
The group have yet to announce plans for a sophomore record, though we can assume the "whole bunch of new tunes" they were working on last summer won't be shrouded in mystery much longer.
Until then, reacquaint yourself with Anyway Gang through their new single/video below.
Today, the four-piece have shared "Alternate View," the first bit of new music from the band since the pandemic shut down operations nearly two years ago. The song — arriving via Versteeg's Royal Mountain Records — comes with its own music video animated by Justin Hess, and follows a "fortune teller named Hyacinthe, who was raised in the circus by her father, the lion tamer."
Versteeg elaborated in a statement:
One day, Hyacinthe looks into her crystal ball and sees her father being eating by the lions. Despite her pleading, her father refuses to look in the ball to see his blood-soaked fate. Sure enough, the gruesome scene transpires and her father is eaten alive.
Hyacinthe is tormented by nightmares and in every fortune she reads she sees nothing but darkness. On a stormy night outside of Denton, TX, she is walking by the lion cage. The beasts whisper to her, to stick her head in their cage so they can end her suffering. As her life flashes before her eyes, she immediately regrets choosing to end her life, but as she recoils, her head gets stuck between the bars of the cage and she blacks out. Fortunately, the Contortionist named Karloff sees this happening and uses his powers of contortionism to climb into the cage and help free her head from the bars.
She awakes with a new outlook. Karloff is constantly standing on his head or walking on his hands and the two of them discuss the importance of looking at everything from a different angle. In a circus life, an alternate view, and a friend to share it with, is the only thing that can keep you sane. That's the story of Hyacinthe and The Contortionist.
The group have yet to announce plans for a sophomore record, though we can assume the "whole bunch of new tunes" they were working on last summer won't be shrouded in mystery much longer.
Until then, reacquaint yourself with Anyway Gang through their new single/video below.
