Through these streets of piss and pain,
through the heavens of palm and shame
With a legacy of decay, and when all else fails,
we make that mirror promise
Melbourne’s Lothario sounds as though somebody left the rehearsal-room door open during a small electrical fire, and their latest single IOU takes that sense of danger somewhere tender. The lead single from the band’s EP has the clipped guitar drive and propulsion of Blitz’s New Age, but its engine is a promise between people who have seen each other wrecked, furious, exhausted, spiritually bankrupt, and still worth coming back for in the end.
Annaliese Redlich sings where friendship has survived enough damage to become a private religion, built from favours remembered, wounds forgiven, and the knowledge that somebody showed up when everybody else disappeared.
“IOU is a love song to self, and to those who have stuck by you through thick and thin,” says Redlich. “Shameless cinematic optimism after wallowing in the pit of despair. An anthem for the dawning of a new day, and pledge to keep going.”
Punk has always loved survival, usually with the emotional subtlety of a brick through a pharmacy window – making it through another day can be messy, indebted work. IOU channels this chaos as linear guitars push against a pub-rock stomp sharpened into something wiry and menacing, while Redlich turns gratitude into a public declaration. There is love here with bruises on its knuckles and a tab it intends to settle.
This reckless fellowship spills into Maria Cecelia Tedemalm’s black-and-white video, where a woman drives through the wrong side of town collecting passengers as though she runs an after-hours ministry for the permanently disreputable. She becomes an oracle of rock ’n’ roll spirit, guitars for a pulpit, anarchy in the gasoline. The high-contrast photography recalls a lost seventies rock film, carrying the candid electricity of Godlis photographing people outside CBGB before anybody knew which faces would become history.
Watch the video for IOU below:
Lothario’s IOU EP also widens Redlich’s method after earlier material was recorded largely alone in her bedroom. Elsa Birrel, Beth Lockhart, and Will Clifford now enter more deeply into the process, with Redlich’s brother Matt recording the sessions.
“I’ve always been a deeply collaborative person, but Lothario’s inception marked a period of me going totally inward,” says Redlich. “A time when I kinda hid away and just let all this stuff pour out of me that had been building over a lifetime. I had so much to prove to myself and understand about my own process. It was immensely empowering but it leaves you nowhere to hide and no one to hide behind. In spite of how many men were automatically given credit for what I made.”
Listen to IOU below and order the EP here.
Lothario takes “IOU” to Europe for twenty-six dates across ten countries this autumn, carrying a song about being carried through hell into a van, across borders, and toward another dawn. The European tour begins September 13 at Leffingeleuren in Leffinge, Belgium, and concludes October 10 at Funtastic in Benidorm, Spain. Useless Eaters join the run beginning September 24 in Vienna, while the final show is a Lothario-only appearance.
September 13 — Leffinge, Belgium — Leffingeleuren
September 14 — Brussels, Belgium — La Chaff
September 16 — Arnhem, Netherlands — Cafe Bosch
September 17 — Tilburg, Netherlands — Hall of Fame
September 18 — Hamburg, Germany — Komet
September 19 — Berlin, Germany — Schockoladen
September 20 — Leipzig, Germany — Venue TBC
September 21 — Prague, Czech Republic — Klubovna Povaleč
September 22 — Brno, Czech Republic — Vegalite
September 23 — Linz, Austria — Kapu
September 24 — Vienna, Austria — Venster99
September 25 — Ilirska Bistrica, Slovenia — MKNŽ
September 26 — Castelgoffredo, Italy — Metapalooza Fest
September 27 — Rome, Italy — 30 Formiche
September 29 — Bologna, Italy — Freakout Club
September 30 — Biel, Switzerland — Quai Du Bas
October 1 — Winterthur, Switzerland — Kraftfeld
October 2 — Burghausen, Germany — Burgkeller-Bar
October 3 — Heidelberg, Germany — Carousel
October 4 — Paris, France — Venue TBC
October 5 — Nantes, France — Mosta
October 6 — Bordeaux, France — La Maison Allez les filles
October 8 — San Sebastián, Spain — Dabadaba
October 9 — Barcelona, Spain — Prison Fest
October 10 — Benidorm, Spain — Funtastic (Lothario only)
Follow Lothario:
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The post “A Legacy of Decay” — Melbourne’s Lothario Shares Video for Anthem of Solidarity and Resolve, “IOU” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.