Muncie Girls’ highly anticipated sophomore LP, Fixed Ideals, is due out almost exactly a month from today on August 31st, and has been generating critical excitement from both sides of the Atlantic. The first two singles from the UK punks’ latest “Picture of Health” and “Falling Down” have received praise from the likes of NPR, The Guardian, Stereogum, The BBC, Noisey, Alt Press, DIY and The AV Club, and the band's latest single, “Locked Up,” is premiering today on The FADER.
The shortest song on the album, clocking in at just under two minutes, “Locked Up” marries the incisive, political songwriting of the group's debut with the more personal touch that has come to the fore on their new LP. Described by FADER as “a wordy, singsongy punk tune…[concerning] the troubling fixtures of our capitalist, heteronormative society that discourage individuality,” the song runs through a collection of societal discontents – big and small – while relating directly to frontwoman Lande Hekt's experience as “a weird teenage girl.”
As Hekt explains to FADER:
I’ve never felt like I fit in to ‘normal’ life and I often find myself trying to articulate/make sense of it. I wrote a list of a lot of things that I find bizarre and overwhelming about (my version of) society that we’re expected to not only accept, but celebrate. It’s kind of depressing really. It has a lot to do with growing up as well and the horrors of being a weird teenage girl.
The line “I can’t be the only one to see the ghost in the room” is in there because my friend said that she’d heard someone say something similar about veganism. The chorus is about how we get trapped by what we don’t question, but it’s also about the prison system and it’s about being claustrophobic, which was in part inspired by my love of the song ‘Franklin Prison Blues’ by Onsind. The guitar riff at the start I came up with when I was listening to a lot of the Replacements.
To coincide with their new single Muncie Girls have announced their first North American tour, which will take place in the fall. Full details of that run can be found below.
Muncie Girl's Fixed Ideas will be out on Buzz Records (North America) & Specialist Subject (UK/EU) on August 31st. It is available for preorder here.
WATCH: Muncie Girls’ “Locked Up” video on FADER // YouTube
“Absolutely fetching…'Picutre of Health’ blast[s] out the gate with thunderous drum fills and arena-bopping riffs”
NPR
“[From Caplan to Belsize] is an unafraid and uncompromising record [that] engages and emulates every wave of feminist punk from the Slits and Patti Smith to Veruca Salt and Sleater-Kinney and Huggy Bear.”
Stereogum
“Three punx from Exeter whose music is catchier than freshers flu and packed with more adrenaline than a storm chaser's weekend.”
Noisey
“Captivating.”
DIY
“Maddeningly catchy and incisively written, perfectly balancing hooks with having something to say.”
AV Club
“A tumultious mixing pot of important issues, personal emotion, raw refrains, and contagious hooks”
Line of Best Fit
“The most talked-about band in British punk make brilliant album. Talk gets louder still. (5/5)”
KERRANG!
Tour Dates
9/26 – Manchester – The Deaf Institute
9/27 – Birmingham – The Cuban Embassy
9/28 – Nottingham – Rock City Basement
9/29 – Newcastle – The Think Tank – Underground
9/30 – Glasgow – The Garage – Attic
10/1 – London – Borderline
10/2 – Norwich – The Waterfront
10/3 – Southampton – The Joiners
10/8 – Antwerp – Jc Bouckenborgh
10/19 – Köln – Autonomes Zentrum
10/20 – Fürth – Kunstkeller
10/21 – Regensburg – Alte Mälzerei
10/22 – München – Kafe Marat
10/23 – Stuttgart – JuHa West
10/25 – Hamburg – Astra Stube
10/26 – Braunschweig – B58
10/27 – Berlin – Cassiopeia
10/30 – Wr. Neustadt – Triebwerk
10/31 – Graz – Sub
11/05 – Brooklyn – Elsewhere Zone One
11/06 – Philadelphia – Boot & Saddle
11/7 – Boston – O'Briens
11/09 – Toronto – The Baby G
11/11 – Chicago – Cobra Lounge
11/13 – Seattle – The Funhouse
11/14 – Portland – Hawthorne Theatre Lounge
11/17 – Los Angeles – Bootleg Bar
Tracklist
1. Jeremy
2. Picture of Health
3. High
4. Clinic
5. Falling Down
6. Isn't Life Funny
7. Bubble Bath
8. Fig Tree
9. Locked Up
10. In Between Bands
11. Laugh Again
12. Hangovers
13. Family of Four
Photo: Martyna Wisniewska
