Song Premiere: Drunk Uncle – “Thundercloud”

After two years of quiet, Texas’ Drunk Uncle announced their sophomore album last month with the rickety, explosive “Bed Our Mouths.” Today we’re excited to bring you a second single – it’s called “Thundercloud,” and it’s as powerful and noisy as the title suggests.

It’s every bit as messy as the best moments on Look Up, but, like a lot of O, brittle weather!, it’s got a queasy dynamism to it that shows how far they’ve come from their scrappy early EPs. You can still shout along to “Thundercloud,” of course, and your voice will be one of many, but you’ll need to wait a bit longer for the payoff. Sonically, too, it’s a bit different from the mathy emo stuff they made their bones on; there’s way more synth on here a la Whenever, If Ever, and every member of the band sounds like they’re fighting for space at the front of the mix in ways that recall Desaparecidos.

Of the song, vocalist/guitarist Peyton Heinig shares

From the moment that we became a four-piece, the band Brave Little Abacus became a stylistic north star for Drunk Uncle. The chaotic, experimental instrumentation and bold, wordy vocal deliveries of the band were unique and rich with creativity, something we wanted to strive towards even if our music didn’t obviously reflect their distinct sound. “Thudercloud,” above all else, began as a challenge to match BLA’s creative and sonic intensity. The song was written around the backbone of its alternating chaotic and measured synth leads. The vocals were then added, mirroring the dynamic synth with lyrics and deliveries with lyrics that move back-and-forth from manic to optimistic. It was in this state where the song sat in our band drive for over a year before being dusted off and revived in our cabin writing sessions with splashing cymbals, a rolling snare, tambourine and melodic bass lines. Thematically, the song represents the album’s shift in tone from looking at life through “dim and idle eyes” to realizing that a partner’s smile “looked all the better when it was framed with less-than perfect weather.”

Check out “Thundercloud” below.

O, brittle weather! is out May 24 on Count Your Lucky Stars.

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Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison

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