The Smashing Pumpkins have shared the two latest singles from their upcoming double album Cyr. “Ramona was accompanied by an official music video, that does not follow the band’s ongoing In Ashes video series. Cyr will be released in full on November 27.
“Ramona” begins with Halloween sounding synths to match the holiday before Billy Corgan begins to describe the witch named Ramona. “I should wander/Yet I shan’t gander far/Beyond her spells enchant/As red made roses/As red made crimson morns,” Corgan begins, the music video following a woman dressed in black with white hair, appearing as a stunning witch.
The main character in the music video finds herself in a brothel, the women dancing as she watches and stares down the male bartender. The bartender gets poisoned as she waltzes out of the bar, carrying a bundle of flowers before a grave marked “Ramona.” A woman comes to her, and the two run off together and kiss in front of rolling hills. The synths and guitar join Corgan on the track as he sings of the witch, “The souls she’s torched to dust/By hex that had no stage.”
“Wyttch” takes on a grungier sound, The Smashing Pumpkins incorporating their ’90s alternative roots. The moodier track delivers a witchy feel and delves into the wicked, Corgan singing “Samhain, Samhain/Through this harvest, tread nigh/All Hallow’s Eve” in honor of the holiday. He speaks to the origins of the holiday, his lyrics pulling up imagery of old pagan rituals.
Previous double singles from the upcoming Cyr have included “Anno Satana,” “Birch Grove,” “Confessions of Dopamine Addict,” “Wrath,” “Cyr” and “The Color of Love.” The band planned on touring sequel to their famous 1993 Rock Invasion Tour, with the 2020 dates initially planned for this spring. The tour was postponed in light of the coronavirus, and eventually cancelled completely.
Earlier this month, The Smashing Pumpkins announced they plan to begin working on a 33-song album following the release of Cyr, that will be the third conceptual album in their series that began with 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and 2000’s Machina.
Photo credit: Alyssa Fried
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