The Chromatics released a new track, “Famous Monsters” which starts out with a forceful red and black backdrop, with a series of candles that emanate smoke as if they had just been blown out. The flames reappear as the first verse breaks through, “Famous monsters in a high rise. Famous monsters, make no mistake. We never wake. We never die.” An electronic beat breaks through and a stairwell appears with a bright light at the top. Eventually, we see lead singer, Ruth Radelet’s eye penetrating the hyper glow in the light. The video is visually stunning and the track has an elusive and mysterious sound that moves throughout.

The Chromatics have put out numerous albums, including Chrome Rats vs. Basement Rutz (Gold Standard Laboratories, 2003), Plaster Hounds (Gold Standard Laboratories, 2004), Night Drive (Italians Do It Better, 2007), Kill for Love (Italians Do It Better, 2012), Closer to Grey (Italians Do It Better, 2019

In 2001, the band formed in Portland, Oregon and consists of Ruth Radelet (vocals, guitar, synthesizer), Adam Miller (guitar, vocoder), Nat Walker (drums, synthesizer), and Johnny Jewel (producer, multi-instrumentalist). Radelet described “Toy” one of their recent songs, “It’s a song about trying to forget someone you’re still in love with even though they treat you like an object,” Radelet said in a statement. The Chromatics will play at The Treefort Music Festival on March 25-29 in Boise, Idaho. Other artists set to play the festival include, Tennis and Japanese Breakfast, as well as over 400 bands in addition to various film screenings, art exhibitions, comedy performances and yoga sessions.

The most recent album, Closer to Grey which came out late 2019 was their first releases in over seven years. In 2012, they put out Kill for Love. The band was originally set to release an album entitled Dear Tommy, which has been teased since at least 2015, however the band’s main multi-instrumentalist and producer Johnny Jewel allegedly destroyed all physical copies of that album after a near-death experience in 2015. In May 2017, Chromatics‘ former manager revealed on Twitter that Johnny Jewel did destroy all copies of the finished Dear Tommy album but had subsequently re-recorded the entire album.

As of August 2019, the album has not been released. Chromatics were invited by Karl Lagerfeld to play the Chanel Spring Summer 2013 fashion show in Paris in early October. The band was put above the runway, overlooking the whole catwalk and creating a dreamy ambience. They performed about five new and old songs. Chromatics have played at numerous music festivals around the world, such as the Paris Pitchfork Music Festival and Barcelona Primavera in 2012. In September 2013, they opened for English band The xx at the Hollywood Bowl. During the past few years the band has released a slew of singles including “Blue Girl,””Black Walls,” “Shadow,” and “Time Rider.”

Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Schulz