Scottish rock band Primal Scream has shared their new single “Deep Dark Waters”, the second single from their upcoming 12th studio album Come Ahead, which will be released on November 8th via BMG.
A dense and heavy sound “Deep Dark Waters” is a lush psych post-punk track that sees the band commenting on the depressing status of the world today. The sinister tone of the track is juxtaposed by the reverbed psychedelic vocals and flamenco guitar pattern, while the lyrics deliver a cautionary warning of how current attitudes and the direction of leadership are setting the world back to the dark times of history. Referencing such events like the age of Colonialism, the Crusades, the two World Wars, The Holocaust and other pivotal moments of history. The lyrics continue with this gloom outlook, where the point to comeback from this dark path may be too late where the last verse of the song begins with ‘That the ship is sailing, Into deep dark waters … We go like cattle to the slaughter, To the slaughter’. Something frontman Bobby Gillespie elaborates further in an article from NME, where he goes on to state that “’Deep Dark Waters’ is influenced by the writings of Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi. A warning from history. Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.”
The disintegrating landscape that was picturized in the song, complemented by the technicolor music video. Directed by filmmaker Douglas Hart, the video sees the band in a black and white visualizer with Gillespie taking center focus and bassist Simone Butler in the background. In between the video, a spectrum of colors flashes, covering the video in a psychedelic spectrum, the shot pans to Gillespie and Butler until they come onto the same shot in a state of hallucination. This continues until the final moments of the video where this spectrum of colors coalesces into a velvet flash and where the final image is of Gillespie and Butler signing off from the video.
Photo Credit: Marv Watson