Shame have recently shared their new single ‘Nigel Hitter’, a track taken from their long-anticipated new album Drunk Tank Pink. Alongside, the band have shared a Maxim Kelly directed video which repurposes archival footage from old research centres on the development of children. Using deepfake technology, the babies start to lip sync along with the song, while the band cameo as chin-stroking scientists.
Grinding into gear via a heavy, driving bassline, the track opens up to a mesh of guitars which motor the song through its stirring hooks and explosive vocal delivery. There’s a similar, gripping unpredictability running throughout Drunk Tank Pink; a bold and ambitious new record which marks a sonic leap forward for the band.
‘Nigel Hitter’ started life as the band readjusted to a new normal back home, having spent much of their adult life on tour, something with frontman Charlie Steen spills out lyrically (‘I’m burning at both ends naturally…’) throughout Drunk Tank Pink. On ‘Nigel Hitter’, he explains: “Nigel Hitter is one of the vital organs of Drunk Tank Pink. A necessary pulse. Focused on daily routine, repetition, and how extraordinary any ordinary task seemed to me after coming home from touring. A world of percussion and joy lies within.”
The track alongside the video make for a subversive, hedonistic journey into post punk, making you listen closely, wondering to what depths it will delve. A tasty first bite of the LP.
