Mega Bog announces new album ‘End of Everything’, out 19 May via Mexican Summer
MEGA BOG ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM END OF EVERYTHING OUT 19 MAY VIA MEXICAN SUMMER
SHARES SELF-DIRECTED VIDEO FOR LEAD SINGLE ‘THE CLOWN’
ANNOUNCES UK TOUR THIS SUMMER INCLUDING LONDON’S THE LEXINGTON ON 16 AUGUST AS WELL AS SHOWS IN GLASGOW, MANCHESTER AND BRIGHTON
“[Erin Birgy is] funny and messy and writes like the dreamiest kid on the playground and also the wisest old man… she makes it seem like even the tiniest protean critter is a marvelous sight to behold”
8.0 Pitchfork
“It’s the glorious idiosyncratic performances and avant-pop soundscapes unique to Erin Birgy that utterly envelops the listener”
The Quietus
Watch the video for ‘The Clown’ here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2S_hhh_wDs
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Mega Bog (the experimental pop ensemble led by Erin Elizabeth Birgy) announces End of Everything, her intrepid seventh album and first for Mexican Summer out 19 May. Along with the announcement she has also shared the self-directed video for lead single ‘The Clown’. She has also announced a UK tour this summer including London‘s The Lexington on 16 August as well as shows in Glasgow, Manchester and Brighton and a performance at this year’s Green Man Festival.
In 2020, Birgy was surrounded by seemingly endless turmoil: mass death, a burning planet, and a personal reckoning when past traumas met fresh ones. Living in Los Angeles, against the backdrop of horrifying forest fires, she questioned what perspective to use moving forward in such dumbfounded awe. Deciding to seize something tangible, she produced a record that spoke of surrender, of mourning, and support in the face of tumultuous self-reflection. Where previous records stretched out into the abstract and ethereal (2021’s acclaimed breakthrough Life, And Another), End of Everything delivers a hit straight to collective awareness and healing. ‘The Clown’ is at once an apocalyptic end but also makes space for new possibilities as it arrives at its sweeping climax. The accompanying video is stark and darkly glamorous.
In Birgy’s words:
“‘The Clown’ is about the terrible, sensual, and chaotic release of merging one’s own multitudes, showing love to the darkness and insecurities, having curiosity about what is beyond presumed perceptions – surrendering to the uncontrollables, while nourishing the small statues of what we do have control over within ourselves.”
Writing on piano and synthesiser instead of the familiar guitar, Birgy explored a spectrum of new sounds to illuminate a state of volatility and flux that was both universal and personal. Midway through producing End of Everything, Birgy made the personally necessary choice to get sober and work through experiences that had begun affecting her ability to communicate creatively. Speaking of this transition, she describes the need “to feel… instantly. I didn’t want to dig into secret codes. I no longer wanted to hide behind difficult music. I was curious to give others the same with the music I create; to make music someone could use to explore drama, playfulness, and dancing, to shake the trauma loose.”
End of Everything was recorded with James Krivchenia (Big Thief) who co-produced the record with Birgy and played drums, bringing his rhythmic mastery and wild percussive spirit. Krivchenia also mixed the record and co-engineered it with Phil Hartunian. The album’s fantastical textures and heavy polyphony owe a great deal to synthesiser maestro and pianist Aaron Otheim. Zach Burba, one of the founding members of Mega Bog, plays bass, while Will Segerstrom, Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), and Jackson Macintosh (Drugdealer, TOPS) contribute electric guitars. Westerman lent a thick yearning spirit and voice to ‘Love Is’, helping seal the fated dancefloor transcendence Birgy had long been dreaming of. A seemingly disparate jukebox of sounds – ranging from Thin Lizzy, Bronski Beat, Franco Battiato and Ozzy Osbourne to 90’s house classics like Haddaway’s ‘What is Love’ and Corona’s ‘Rhythm of the Night’ – foregrounded a new punchy theatricality in Birgy’s music.
The importance of artistic collaboration is exemplified by the album’s cover art – a painting by Birgy’s oldest friend Joel Gregory. Painted after a nude photograph of Birgy, her naked body simultaneously embodies hopelessness and power. She is flanked on one side by water, painted as a reflected calla lily, representing hope, sexuality, death, and the purification of the departed soul; on the other, by a strip of seemingly geological rock formations, which are in fact studies of melted wax used in one of Birgy’s meditation practice. Neon red courses through the album’s design, connecting with the passion and anger represented by the hell myth.
End of Everything is a multifaceted body of work accompanied by The Practice of Hell Ending, Birgy’s first published collection of poetry. Written alongside the album, The Practice of Hell Ending beckons the reader to travel further into the landscapes of Birgy’s inner worlds. These terrains will be brought to life in a series of music videos accompanying the album tracks. They were directed, produced, and shot by Birgy in Greece and Los Angeles. The films explore ancient ruins, dances, mythologies, and escapism, all caught on film to provide opportunity to further excavate the stories and meanings contained within the record.
High-res images can be found here
Photo credit: Amanda Jasnowski Pascual
Pre-order End of Everything here:
https://megabog.ochre.store/
Tour dates:
13 Aug – Glasgow @ The Hug & Pint
14 Aug – Manchester @ YES (basement)
15 Aug – Brighton @ The Prince Albert
16 Aug – London @ The Lexington
17-20 Aug – Brecon Beacons @ Green Man Festival
Tickets are available here:
https://megabog.com/