Canadian post-punk/electronic duo, Freak Heat Waves share new video/single ‘Busted’.
Canadian post-punk/electronic duo, Freak Heat Waves are sharing their new single/video, 'Busted' , the latest to be lifted from their forthcoming record, Zap The Planet which is next Friday, September 4 via beloved Toronto label, Telephone Explosion. The new track follows previous releases, 'Let It Go', ‘Dripping Visions’ and ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ that secured support at KEXP, and international media.
Zap The Planet follows 2018's Beyond XXXL that found Freak Heat Waves opening for Suuns, Preoccupations, Odonis Odonis, Mattiel, METZ and more. The duo, who are now based at opposing ends of the country in Montréal and Vancouver, initially hail from the Midwestern Canadian prairies before relocating to Victoria, BC where they cut their teeth, earning acclaim for their early cassette tapes and blistering DIY performances.
New single, 'Busted’ falls in a similar lane as the first track to be released from the record, 'Dripping Visions' did; it's a glitched-out fusion of electronica and 8-bit sampling that saunters around stuttering percussion and Thomas DiNinno's renowned stoned vocals. Speaking about the track, the band says:
"This track is about giving in to things that are out of your control. Embracing the moment you're in. Musically we wanted to create an atmosphere that would be heady and driving, something akin to being in a wormhole traveling between earths."
Speaking about the accompanying video, director Jason Lei said:
“The 'Busted' music video is a video collage using personal footage, various found VHS tapes and live footage I filmed of Freak Heat Waves playing in Nanaimo’s now-defunct “White room”. The video was made pre-pandemic and before I was aware of the album title, the content of the video synchronized/mutated with the album concept unintentionally."
When not touring, the band frequently relocated, adapted and diversified, trading instruments and forging a path-less-followed approach to writing music. As new instruments started to come into the fold, the studio process became more dynamic with the pair – never the type to rest on their laurels – adopting avant-garde recording techniques, experimental sound design and orchestrations that utilized legendary effects, drum machines and synths. Tireless curiosity fuelled the duo as they merged their original sound with discoveries and seemingly disparate influences – the distance between Montreal, QC and Victoria, BC has only helped fuel innovation too.
No Freak Heat Waves record has followed a singular path and no two are alike. Each album is an evolution in musical direction, songwriting and conceptualization. With Zap the Planet, (their second album on Telephone Explosion) the duo has manifested more of their intrinsically unique vision and become more pronounced in their unhinged artistic process. The follow up to 2017’s Beyond XXXL finds the Freaks taking a fearless, inventive leap to create the greatest departure from their previous work.
Freak Heat Waves - Zap The Planet