Dummy, the Los Angeles-based band of Alex Ewell, Emma Maatman, Nathan O’Dell, Joe Trainor, and Lance Umble, announce their new album, do you love the color of the sky?, out 16 October via Polyvinyl. In addition they release lead single ‘Full Spectrum Dominance’ and confirm an autumn North American tour. With do you love the color of the sky? Dummy crafts the perfect anti-zeitgeist record, freezing you into their incorporeal moment of time, freed from the rat race and trendiness, embracing insularity to the point that it somehow becomes the future.
If 2024’s Free Energy (and its subsequent remix album, Bubbelibrium DLC) evoked the spirit of Madchester and the optimism of the rave, then do you love the color of the sky? couches itself in a lyrical scepticism that recalls the best of post-rock and drone. Think Seefeel, Windy and Carl, Laika, or Disco Inferno – while playfully adorned in jubilant pop hues of early Björk, The Sundays, and Madonna‘s Ray of Light.
do you love the color of the sky? is Dummy’s most politically trenchant record, and yet their most inviting. Breakbeats and the captivating voice of keyboardist Emma belie a sleight hand – as the listener becomes enveloped by Dummy’s unshakable grooves, they’ve subconsciously accrued a vision of a new radical politic. Lead single ‘Full Spectrum Dominance’ comments on A.I. and the devaluation of art. Guitarist Joe comments:
“I was trying to make something just heavier, and we joked it was our nu metal song, during the recording we added the tambourine that gives it a more dancey vibe, Deee- Lite meets Deftones.”
Emma adds:
“This is the Technofeudalism bop. Tech billionaires are treating AI like the new Alchemy, using it as a source of power and magic. This supposedly soon-to-be all-powerful technology could not exist without harvesting all of humanity’s intellectual property and collective work. ‘Prima Materia’ is the building block of all alchemical matter, so in the canon of the song, we humans are the Prima Materia.”
The accompanying video directed and animated by Matt Wells (POST MAN) is an experimental montage of 3D animation, found imagery, and motion graphics exploring AI as a modern form of alchemy. Wells drew on the fears and frustrations surrounding the rise of A.I. and its hostile attempt to erode the human experience. Aesthetically, the video is inspired by everything from late 90’s UK music videos and cyberpunk films to early CGI demonstration.
Dummy Live Dates
October
13 – Fresno, CA @ Tower Lounge *
14 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel *
15 – Sacramento, CA @ Café Colonial *
16 – Reno, NV @ Holland Project *
17 – Arcata, CA @ Miniplex w/ Dilies
20 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *
22 – Vancouver, BC @ The Wise *
23 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern *
24 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux *
26 – Salt Lake City, UT @ International Bar *
27 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive *
November
4 – Los Angeles, CA @ Sid The Cat Ballroom
* = w/ Golomb
For more information on Dummy please check their instagram and bandcamp.