I’ve followed Amyl and The Sniffers since I first saw them explode onto the stage at the Paddo RSL—of all places. Watching them evolve has been a wild ride, and today’s release of their third album, Cartoon Darkness, marks another bold chapter. They’ve played Glastonbury and they’ll be playing London’s Roundhouse in November along with a host of other shows across Europe. They’ve come a long way, and Cartoon Darkness proves they aren’t coasting—they’re pushing harder than ever.
Produced by Nick Launay (who’s worked with Nick Cave, IDLES, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs), the album kicks off with ‘Jerkin’,’ a blistering, take-no-prisoners opener. Amy Taylor sets the tone right from the first line: “You’re a dumb c*nt.” It’s confrontational, furious, and deeply self-aware—just like the rest of the record. The video for ‘Jerkin’’ dropped with an X-rated warning, complete with nudity, signalling the band’s refusal to play it safe.
That defiant energy continues in ‘U Should Not Be Doing That,’ where Taylor dismisses critics with wit and venom, mocking someone in Melbourne while the band is busy tearing through Tokyo and L.A. ‘Chewing Gum’ brings a heavier rock edge, diverging from their earlier punk roots, while ‘Big Dreams’ wrestles with the economic struggles of dreaming in a collapsing world. It’s a downbeat anthem for hard times, but the tempo shifts with ‘It’s Mine,’ where Declan Mehrtens’ scorching guitar riffs take centre stage.
The album reflects the band’s ambition to tackle big themes—global warming, systemic failure, and personal freedom. It closes with ‘Me and The Girls’, a playful, pop-tinged track that has Taylor rapping like a modern-day Debbie Harry, circa ‘Rapture.‘ It’s fun, unpredictable, and leaves you wondering—could the next album be disco?
Whatever comes next, Cartoon Darkness shows that Amyl and The Sniffers aren’t content to repeat themselves. They’re expanding, experimenting, and taking risks. If this album is any indication, world domination is inevitable.
Stream/buy ‘Cartoon Darkness’ HERE.
Cartoon Darkness is about climate crisis, war, A.I., tiptoeing on the eggshells of politics, and people feeling like they’re helping by having a voice online when we’re all just feeding the data beast of Big Tech, our modern-day god. It’s about the fact that our generation is spoon-fed information. We look like adults, but we’re children forever cocooned in a shell. We’re all passively gulping up distractions that don’t even cause pleasure, sensation or joy, they just cause numbness. Cartoon Darkness is driving headfirst into the unknown, into this looming sketch of the future that feels terrible but doesn’t even exist yet. A childlike darkness. I don’t want to meet the devil half-way and mourn what we have right now. The future is cartoon, the prescription is dark, but it’s novelty. It’s just a joke. It’s fun. – Amy Taylor
