Music Industry News

Earth Tongue, the brainchild of guitarist Gussie Larkin and drummer Ezra Simons, today announce their second full-length album Great Haunting. The duo, known for their heavy flavour of fuzz-soaked psychedelic rock, are also pleased to share the first single and video for ‘Bodies Dissolve Tonight!‘. Simultaneously, they proudly unveil their signing to In The Red Records, an iconic Los Angeles based rock ‘n’ roll label that formed in 1991. The album will be released worldwide on June 14th 2024.

Reflecting on the signing, guitarist and vocalist, Gussie Larkin, shares, “Joining forces with a label that houses iconic bands like Thee Oh Sees, Kid Congo, Wand and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is a dream come true for us. The list of In The Red alumni is super extensive and spans over 30 years, so we’re honoured to be alongside many bands that have inspired us.”

Earth Tongue’s partnership with In The Red Records stemmed from a run of shows supporting the legendary Ty Segall throughout New Zealand. Larkin adds, “Ty’s band Fuzz was a significant influence for our sound early on. Ezra and I saw them play live in London about 9 years ago, long before Earth Tongue existed. We absorbed a lot of music at that time, and in fact, many of the bands we saw released records via In The Red”.

Great Haunting sees the duo draw inspiration from the eerie depths of 70s and 80s horror cinema, delivering a sonic concoction of dark and primitive songs with thick layers of fuzz and punchy, compressed drums. The album was engineered by Jonathan Pearce from The Beths at his studio on Karangahape Road in Auckland. The first single, ‘Bodies Dissolve Tonight!‘ is a high-energy track with blistering forward momentum. The corresponding video, directed by the band themselves, was shot on a west coast beach south of Auckland. It features the band driving up the beach in a possessed black ute, shot on beautiful 16mm film. They’re seen performing the song as the sun sets and the ute circles around them – before they speed off into a neon green otherworldly landscape. In true Earth Tongue style the video is well composed, stunningly colour blocked and full of cinema tropes from the 1970s – think Logan’s Run meets the original Mad Max.

The ascent of Earth Tongue is testament to their dedication and hard work. They’ve toured relentlessly across Europe and scored support slots for acts like IDLES and Queens Of The Stone Age. They’re consistently selling out headline shows and featuring on festival lineups throughout Aotearoa and Australia. 2024 sees the band embark on a bold new chapter with their first performance in the USA at SXSW, Austin. They also have more than 40 dates booked throughout Europe this summer and many more exciting announcements to come.

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Photo credit: Oscar Keys