BEEN STELLAR have released their newest single, PUMPKIN, the last pre-release single ahead of the band’s debut album Scream From New York, NY out on 21 June via their new label home Dirty Hit
“Pumpkin is something of a sonic departure for us – it’s definitely more subdued,” says lead singer Sam Slocum. “There was a point when we weren’t totally sure it would make it onto the album because of that. It had existed in many forms, but it wasn’t until the last month leading up to recording when each part fell into place. Oddly, the lyrics remained the same from the very beginning. They stemmed from a visual I had – an apartment light shining through its windows out onto a street at night. I imagined the people inside the apartment crossing back and forth in front of the window. From there, the lyrics I wrote formed a vignette of the people in the apartment, sharing a space together. I described several shared, intimate moments from my own life and wanted to get as specific as I could.”
The band have previously shared three singles from the album – the white-knuckled and cutting Sweet, the ferocious late-album highlight All In One and lead single Passing Judgment, a masterful deployment of unbearable pressure and violent relief.
Scream From New York, NY is a remarkably brutal debut – bruised and volatile, it captures an image of ‘20s New York that’s unrelenting and harsh, where tenderness is a finite resource burned up by the machinery of the city and human connection is a luxury product. Leaving behind the driving shoegaze of their early recordings, the NYC-based five piece tap into the disaffected sound and spirit of New York luminaries such as Sonic Youth and Interpol, and the nihilistic, yearning cool of Iceage and Bends-era Radiohead, striking upon a sound that’s fearsome, buffeting and beautiful at the same time. A tidal wave as viewed from beneath.
SCREAM FROM NEW YORK, NY TRACK LIST
Start Again
Passing Judgement
Pumpkin
Scream From New York, NY
Sweet
Can’t Look Away
Simmer
Takedown
All In One
I Have The Answer
Pre-order the album on vinyl, CD and cassette from Dirty Hit HERE
BEEN STELLAR UK & EU DATES
JULY
Fri 26 SHEFFIELD Tramlines Festival
Sat 27 OXFORD Truck Festival
Sun 28 SUFFOLK Latitude Festival
NOVEMBER
Sun 03 AMSTERDAM, NL Bitterzoet
Mon 04 COLOGNE, DE Blue Shell
Wed 06 BERLIN, DE Cassiopeia
Thu 07 HAMBURG, DE Molotow Sky Bar
Sat 09 WARSAW, PL Klub Hybrydy
Sun 10 PRAGUE, CZ Café V Lese
Mon 11 MUNICH, DE Orange House
Wed 13 MILAN, IT Bellezza
Thu 14 ZURICH, CH Exil
Sat 16 BRUSSELS, BE Witloof Bar
Sun 17 PARIS, FR Point Ephemere
Tue 19 BRISTOL Fleece
Thu 21 MANCHESTER Academy 3
Fri 22 GLASGOW King Tuts
Sun 24 NEWCASTLE Cluny
Mon 25 LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
Tue 26 NOTTINGHAM Bodega
Thu 28 LONDON Scala
Sat 30 DUBLIN Workman’s Club
DECEMBER
Sun 01 GALWAY Roisin Dubh
Mon 02 BELFAST Ulster Sports Club
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Photo credit – Gabe Long