Scowl have shared their fierce new single ‘Special’, marking their first release under their new label home Dead Oceans.
Produced by Grammy-nominated Will Yip –who also worked on the band’s EP Psychic Dance Routine – and mixed by Rich Costey (Fiona Apple, Deftones, Vampire Weekend) ‘Special’ sees frontwoman Kat Moss sing “Caught running away again / Thought by now I’d figured out / The hell of my undoing / It’s desperation to feel alive” over pounding drums and explosive guitar riffs, questioning what she really wants.
Speaking about the track in a press release, Moss shared: “Originally Malachi [Greene, guitarist] sent in the demo while we were touring the UK. Cole [Glibert] added his flare on drums, Bailey [Lupo, bassist] directed the bridge, and finally Mikey [Bifolco, bassist] cooked up his leads. ‘Special’ is a kamikaze.
“The lyrics are about threatening the audience by asking ‘what do you really want?’ in clear desperation to answer my own question ‘What do I really want?’ But the answer is simple, I want to feel alive.”
Directed by Silken Weinberg, the song’s accompanying video sees the band play a game in which Moss ends up picking a short stick meaning that she will be the one hunted down. The rest of the band proceeds to hunt her while she goes to hide.
The band have also announced that they have signed to Dead Oceans label, home to the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Mitski, Japanese Breakfast and more.
Scowl’s last release was their 2023 EP ‘Psychic Dance Routine’. In a four-star review of the project, NME shared: “It would be an overstatement to call ‘Psychic Dance Routine’ a reinvention of Scowl’s sound, but there is certainly an evolution taking place. But the EP isn’t wholly about the strides taken to sound unlike anything else in hardcore right now; these songs radiate with the laughter, passion and confidence of a band who know they have unlocked something special.”
Earlier this summer, Scowl were among a group of bands that boycotted Download Festival 2024 over its partnership with Barclays Bank – which has ties to Israel.