KING NUN have released their album MASS through the iconic Dirty Hit. It’s been a long time coming for the Wandsworth quartet, and sees them embrace darker sonic inspirations and cultish imagery for their first full length release. The band have also shared the video for the new single BUG to tie in with the album release.
Speaking about the record, front man Theo Polyzoides says:
“We are deeply proud to bring you all our debut album. This thing is full of songs about becoming, songs about reminiscing, songs about making an album. It’s a tribute to teenage angst, to naiveté, to our memories both melancholic and despairingly sad – to the need to step up to the plate. This is an exorcism – it’s a section of our lives on a plate, and I hope it can be whatever you need it to be.”
Dressed up in cultish imagery, complex lyricism and a mutating, tradition-be-damned approach to rock music’s typical sonic palette, King Nun’s long-awaited debut album is a coming-of-age record like few others.
From the title of the album itself – a multi-faceted reference to that coming-of-age as an almost cultish ceremony – to the warped melodies that drive tracks like LOW FLYING DANDELION and the heavenly sounding closer (and ode to long-forgotten German folk singer Sibylle Baier) A GIANT CAME DOWN, MASS refuses to remain in one sonic space. The result is a record which eschews conventional rock structures and sounds in favour of something more ambitious and boundary-pushing, whilst never losing sight of King Nun’s brilliance as a live guitar band.
A record centred around both personal exorcisms and more universal lived experiences, King Nun’s debut is a lofty accomplishment from a group no longer content to simply kick up the dirt at their feet.
“The album is really autobiographical,” says singer Theo Polyzoides, “it’s full of songs about becoming, songs about reminiscing, songs about making an album. It’s a tribute to teenage angst, to naiveté, to memories both melancholic and despairingly sad, to the need to step up to the plate.”
MASS is, without doubt, a record which finds King Nun stepping up to the plate. A confident, charismatic and complex debut LP, it proves the quartet are embracing their role as one of rock music’s last great innovators.
The album comes in the wake of a huge summer for King Nun: a recent support slot to Foo Fighters; and a wealth of raucous performances at festivals up and down the country. September has seen the band play their own headline shows in the USA, alongside support slots with Reignwolf and Black Flag; whilst October sees them return for a UK and EU tour with The Struts.
Full dates as follows:
OCTOBER
Sun 06 KINGSTON Fighting Cocks [Instore + Signing – Matinee]
Wed 09 LONDON Rough Trade East [Instore + Signing – Evening]
Fri 11 MANCHESTER Academy [with The Struts]
Sat 12 EDINBURGH Liquid Rooms [with The Struts]
Sun 13 SHEFFIELD Leadmill [with The Struts]
Tue 15 NORWICH UEA [with The Struts]
Wed 16 LONDON Kentish Town Forum [with The Struts]
Thu 17 CARDIFF Great Hall [with The Struts]
Sat 19 LEICESTER O2 Academy [with The Struts]
Sun 20 BOURNEMOUTH O2 Academy [with The Struts]
