Amen Dunes – Purple Land

It feels like a lifetime ago that Damon McMahon aka Amen Dunes released his incredible, album-of-the-decade contender Freedom, especially given all that's transpired since it dropped back in 2018. That album still feels vital and prophetic nearly six years later, but we're ready for a new one. Death Jokes is coming May 10th on Sub Pop, featuring some some unlikely collaborators (Money Mark, Kwake Bass!, etc.)., and offering what the bio promises is "a scathing electronic essay on Americaʼs culture of violence, dominance, and destructive individualism." Check the softly poignant and profoundly moving first single "Purple Land", which McMahon says began as "a song to my daughter about life on earth, offering platitudes, warnings, and guidance through its various stages", before shifting into "a reflection on the narrator's own uncertainties as he moves through the world, ending finally with a character Rhea Anne who exemplifies liberation from it all in a moment of simple reckless freedom, as the beat drops in the final minute of the song." Video directed by Julian Klincewicz.

--

[listen to Amen Dunes "Purple Land" alongside tracks from Burial, Mk.gee, Vegyn, Jane Penny of TOPS + others on our newly minted SONGS of 2024 playlist]