‘Television’ is the new single from acclaimed Melbourne four-piece City Calm Down, the track premiered on triple j’s Good Nights. Recorded with producer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, The Drones, Julia Jacklin), ‘Television’ is a prescient pop anthem for our times, and the band’s first new material since 2018’s masterful Echoes In Blue.
‘Television’ is inspired by 1976’s Sidney Lumet-directed satire Network – an Oscar-winning howl of protest. Four decades on, Network’s bleak vision is more relevant than ever.
“Network is a dark satire about an anchorman who goes on a series of rants live on air after he loses his wife and finds out he’ll be fired,” says frontman Jack Bourke, who borrowed from the film’s infamous media monologues for the song’s intro. “Even though it was released 40+ years ago, it feels more relevant than ever in the 24 hour news cycle world we live in. It was serendipitous I stumbled across it the night I wrote ‘Television’.
“Although the lyrics touch on the same broad themes as Network, I’m not as deeply cynical about the impact of media in our lives. One of the greatest opportunities we have is to engage with the abundance of outstanding art that’s being produced. At the same time, there’s a lot of absolute crap, whether for television or other media, and it gets a lot more attention than it deserves. Culturally, this dulls our senses to what’s true and beautiful and we risk becoming more shallow and insular as a result.
“At the end of the day it’s a pop song and you can take as much or as little of that as you like. Musically it nods to and steals from T.Rex, The Smiths, The Clash and The Replacements and we’re fucking excited to put it out!”
In celebration of their new single, City Calm Down will be performing two exclusive headine shows in May/June, and returning to the UK/Europe in Sept/Oct. Tickets are on sale now via www.citycalmdown.com – dates below.
CITY CALM DOWN
With special guests Merpire (Melb) & Grace Turner (Syd)
Presented by I OH YOU and Collective Artists
On sale now via citycalmdown.com
Saturday 18 May
Howler | Melbourne, VIC
18+
moshtix.com
Saturday 1 June
Oxford Arts Factory | Sydney, NSW
18+
moshtix.com
SEPT/OCT 2019
Wed 25 Sept Oran Mor | Glasgow, UK
Thu 26 Sept The Cluny 2 | Newcastle, UK
Fri 27 Sept Brudenell Social Club | Leeds, UK
Sat 28 Sept Soup Kitchen | Manchester, UK
Mon 30 Sept Electrowerkz | London, UK
Tues 1 Oct Botanique Witloofbar | Belgium, Brussels
Wed 2 Oct Supersonic | Paris, France
Thu 3 Oct Paradiso | Amsterdam, Netherlands
Fri 4 Oct Privatclub | Berlin, Germany
Sat 5 Oct Molotow Musikclub | Berlin, Germany
Sun 6 Oct MTC | Cologne, Germany