Aussie Alt Rock Act Amyl And the Sniffers Detail New Album ‘Comfort To Me’; Share Video For Lead Single “Guided By Angels”

Melbourne-based rock group Amyl and the Sniffers have officially announced their sophomore record Comfort To Me will be out on September 10th through ATO Records. Serving as a follow-up to their 2019 critically-acclaimed self-titled debut, the new record was written during the pandemic, spending more time refining and working through the songs than ever before. “The nihilistic, live in the moment, positivity and panel beater rock-meets-shed show punk was still there, but it was better,” says frontwoman Amy Taylor. “The whole thing was less spontaneous and more darkly considered.”

“The amount of time and thought I put into the lyrics for this album is completely different from the EPs, and even the first record,” she continues. “Half of the lyrics were written during the Australian bushfire season, when we were already wearing masks to protect ourselves from the smoke in the air. And then when the pandemic hit, our options were the same as everyone: go find a day job and work in intense conditions or sit at home and drown in introspection. I fell into the latter category. I had all this energy inside of me and nowhere to put it, because I couldn’t perform, and it had a hectic effect on my brain. My brain evolved and warped and my way of thinking about the world completely changed. Having to deal with a lot of authority during 2020 and realising my lack of power made me feel both more self destructive and more self disciplined, more nihilistic and more depressed and more resentful, which ultimately fuelled me with a kind of relentless motivation. I became a temporary monster. I partied more, but I also exercised heaps, read books and ate veggies. I was like an egg going into boiling water when this started, gooey and weak but with a hard surface. I came out even harder. I’m still soft on the inside, but in a different way.”

The result is a collection of 13 songs – mixed by Nick Launay (Nick Cave, IDLES, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and mastered by Bernie Grundman (Prince, Michael Jackson, Dr. Dre, OutKast) – that amp up the band’s infectiously chaotic energy. “People will use other bands as a sonic reference to make it more digestible and journalists will make it seem more pretentious and considered than it really is,” says Taylor, “but in the end this album is just us — raw self expression, defiant energy, unapologetic vulnerability.”

That unfiltered personality comes through on the band’s lead single and video “Guided By Angels”, directed by John Angus Stewart. Featuring the band driving through Melbourne hanging out of an old sedan and dancing in open spaces, self-destructive boiling points of rock n’ roll is alive with the band’s brash style.