Amen Dunes has announced his first album since 2018’s Freedom. It’s called Death Jokes, and it arrives on May 10 via Sub Pop. The first single, ‘Purple Land’, is out today alongside a music video. Check it out below, and scroll down to see the album cover, tracklist, and Amen Dunes’ upcoming tour dates.
“’Purple Land’ is one of the album’s interstitial character portraits: first of a child, then the narrator, and then of an empowered figure as they all navigate and find liberation from the disconnection and disenchantment of an uncertain world,” Damon McMahon explained in a statement. “It begins first as a song to my daughter about life on earth, offering platitudes, warnings, and guidance through its various stages, until it becomes 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.”
As he worked on new music, McMahon fought intense illness for most of 2020, first with COVID and then with lingering respiratory issues, saw the birth of his first child, and moved from Los Angeles to Woodstock, NY. Death Jokes features contributions from Sam Wilkes, Christoffer Berg (Fever Ray), and Kwake Bass (Tirzah & Dean Blunt). Its array of samples includes an interview with J Dilla, recordings from Type O Negative and Coil, a lyre performance of the oldest written song in human history, protest chants, a grunting powerlifter, as well as bits of stand-up from Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, and others, used as “thought provocation and irritant.”
Death Jokes Cover Artwork:
Death Jokes Tracklist:
1. Death Jokes
2. Ian
3. Joyrider
4. What I Want
5. Rugby Child
6. Boys
7. Exodus
8. Predator
9. Solo Tape
10. Purple Land
11. I Don’t Mind
12. Mary Anne
13. Round the World
14. Poor Cops
Amen Dunes 2024 Tour Dates:
Wed May 8 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
Fri May 10 – Los Angeles, CA – The Bellwether
Wed May 15 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
Mon Jul 1 – Paris, FR – Trabendo
Wed Jul 3 – Berlin, DE – Gretchen
Fri Jul 5 – Roskilde, DK – Roskilde Festival
Sun Jul 7 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
Tue Jul 9 – London, UK – KOKO
