Swiftly following 2021’s acclaimed first outing ‘I’, the aptly titled ‘II’ sees the alias of Joe Tennant growing in stature and exploring new sonic territory
Blazing the trail of the four-track release, the singer-songwriter and producer puts a spotlight on one of its most incendiary moments: “Diggin”, a featured track which leads the release today.
Written while walking home through London at night, this shadowy slow-burner sees FUTURE CAVEMEN evoke the grandiose gloom of the capital’s looming gothic churches lying empty at twilight. With dusky, Spaghetti Western rhythms climbing to an immense and impending crescendo, “Diggin” was co-produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Kristofer Harris at Kent’s Squarehead Studios.
Discussing the inception of the eerie new track, FUTURE CAVEMEN explains:
“I wanted something gothic — I was listening to a lot of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Dick Dale at the time and I used to go into the local church and play the piano when nobody was around. I don’t like to get into lyrics or meanings behind my own songs, I just knew I wanted it to sound violent. I wanted it to be structured like a poem but with extravagant musical interludes, almost like an epic movie theme or a classical piece.”
Taken from new EP ‘II’, FC’s new collection was largely written in London when Tennant suddenly found himself out of his musical day-job and in search of a new creative identity.
Thrashing out a new sound and identity over the course of the 8 years that followed, the music that would come to belong to the Future Cavemen name would see Tennant blurring an eclectic array of influences and sounds from across the decades; repurposing them into something mutant, beguiling and original. Taking inspiration from the catalogues of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds to the Dandy Warhols, QOTSA to Dick Dale, while pushing himself to explore sounds and tech far beyond his comfort zone; the fruits of his toils are no-more vividly realised than in his latest collection.
FUTURE CAVEMEN – ‘II’ TRACKLIST
DIGGIN
POISON FLOWER
GYPSY CURSE
UNDER RAINBOWS
Alongside the opening track “Diggin”, the EP propels the listener through vortexing vintage synthesisers on “Gypsy Curse” to warped Beatles-y psychedelia on The Wizard of Oz-inspired closer “Under Rainbows”; sealing the deal on a collection that will take the listener firmly out of Kansas and into the world of Future Cavemen.