In the eight years since Amyl and The Sniffers came together in Melbourne's buzzing music scene, the band has perfected the art of combining playfulness and raw power. With two unanimously acclaimed albums to date (2019's self-titled debut and 2021's "Comfort To Me"), vocalist Amy Taylor, guitarist Declan Mehrtens, bassist Gus Romer and drummer Bryce Wilson have established their unique style. Since the release of "Comfort To Me", the band's prospects have expanded exponentially in every respect. Bigger, clearer, smarter, sharper, that's what drives the band's third album. The band recorded "Cartoon Darkness" together with Nick Launay at the Foo Fighters' 606 Studio in Los Angeles, at the same console where Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" and Nirvana's "Nevermind" were recorded.
It's a surprisingly varied album, ranging from classic punk to the bristling glam of the single "U Should Not Be Doing That" and the exuberant balladry of "Big Dreams". "Cartoon Darkness" is about war, the climate crisis and artificial intelligence, about politics and the feeling of having a voice online, while in the end we are simply feeding the data beast Big Tech, our god of the present. It's about how our generation is stuffed full of information, how we seem like adults and yet remain children forever, shielded as if in a cocoon, devouring all the distractions that don't even make us feel good or happy, just numb. "Cartoon Darkness" runs headlong through the wall into the unknown, into the looming foreboding of a future, a childlike darkness that feels terrible but doesn't even exist yet - great raw fun.
