Amen Dunes will release his new album, Death Jokes, on May 10 through Sub Pop Records. For the first time since the project’s incarnation in 2006, the album’s spiritual reflections and meditations of Dunes are turned away from himself and out sharply towards the world. Through samples and lyrics, Death Jokes plays like a scathing electronic essay on America’s culture of violence, dominance, and destructive individualism.
The songs on Death Jokes almost seem to foresee the the challenges the artist faced during the pandemic but the challenges are more about the lingering effects those years have had on all of us, spiritually and emotionally. The meaning morphed as the pandemic went on, at first the challenges were reflections on our attachment to form and then they shifted into solemn indictments of our culture’s blind spots as we misjudge and attack, our veiled self-centeredness and self-importance masquerading as morality.
In light of the upcoming album, Dunes has shared the song, “Purple Land,” which started as a campfire country song before shifting throughout its production to incorporate polyrhythms, 909s, reggae guitar, backwards bass, and a drum break. The song speaks to the fragility of life, first in childhood and then as we age. Throughout, an omniscient angel figure presides over the ballad.
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
Leave a Comment