Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes | Photo credit: Brian Rankin
Well this is quite a record. Firstly I’ve got to say I was only vaguely acquainted with this band and associated them with a more loud thrashy style with urgent raucous vocals. So I was a bit taken aback on listening to Brambles.
It’s raw still but really catchy and melodic. It has a really open pared-down sound and quite toe tappingly jaunty in a funny kind of way. But there’s a sting in this tail. The singer sings about love but this is no love song. The words are barbed though he sings it so deliciously and with a wink too. It’s like being hit in the face by a smiling assassin. It hurts but the pain is kind of sweet.
Just wait ’til you spy the video. It further messes with your eyes and mind. It’s not what you’d expect but adds a certain added oddness to proceedings.
Brambles is the second song to be taken from their forthcoming album Dark Rainbow, out 26th January 2024. ‘Brambles’ comes on with a palpable sense of foreboding and menace, and arrives as something of a plea for a perfect love. It’s a song that probes for an answer to why we give ourselves over to the pain that can come from relationships, Carter singing “Why does our love feel like brambles?”
“Brambles is a melancholic bop born from the bramble thorns of love we let grow around us until we are tangled with no method of escaping unscathed. Like our neural pathways become stronger and deeper with each unconscious action, the thorns of love hook deeper and the brambles wrap tighter until we are barely recogniseable and even our loved ones can no longer comfort us or lead us to safety for fear of being cut and torn themselves. An ode to the passion of love and a warning not to get lost in it when you go looking.”
Now on the cusp of releasing their fifth LP, Dark Rainbow, the two old friends are taking stock. In contrast to their previous records – which were snapshots of the time and mindset in which they were made – Dark Rainbow was born from self-reflection, memory and gratitude. “I’m just witnessing the world change so quickly and I’m still trying to come to terms with who I am and what the authentic version of me is,” Carter says. “By giving people what I thought they wanted I think I got further and further away from who I actually am, you know? So now, first and foremost, I’m prioritising what I need. Sobriety has been really, really helpful for me.”
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes World Tour 2024
06 Feb – The Great Hall, Cardiff, UK
07 Feb – O2 Academy, Bristol, UK
09 Feb – Academy, Manchester, UK
10 Feb – Northumbria Uni Student’s Union, Newcastle, UK
11 Feb – Barrowland, Glasgow, UK
13 Feb – O2 Academy, Leeds, UK
14 Feb – Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton, UK
15 Feb – Roundhouse, London, UK
16 Feb – Roundhouse, London, UK
22 Feb – Metropol, Berlin, DE
23 Feb – Live Music Hall, Cologne, DE
24 Feb – Le Bataclan, Paris, FR
26 Feb – AB Main Hall, Brussels, BE
27 Feb – 013 Poppodium, Tilburg, Netherlands, NL
16 Apr – Magnet House, Perth, AUS
18 Apr – The Gov, Adelaide, AUS
19 Apr – 170 Russell, Melbourne, AUS
20 Apr – Barwon Club, Geelong, AUS
23 Apr – Triffid, Brisbane, AUS
24 Apr – Crowbar, Sydney, AUS
13 May – The End, Nashville TN, USA
14 May – Subterranean, Chicago IL, USA
17 May – Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON,CAN
20 May – Foundry, Philadelphia PA, USA
21 May – The Gramercy Theatre, New York NY, USA
22 May – Atlantis, Washington DC, USA
