Alongside the new single, New York’s Victoryland announce their signing to Dead Oceans and a deluxe edition of acclaimed debut album ‘My Heart Is A Room With No Cameras In It’.
‘Millennial Optimism’ is a term bandied about willy-nilly these days, but the cherry-picked ‘ukelele and owl print’ cliches that litter hyper-online internet forums represent just a fraction of the vast, kaleidoscopic sonic abundance of the time. Spiritually, NYC’s Victoryland fall firmly within this sphere, but across the era’s extensive musical timeline, their plot points sprawl with a refreshing authenticity. Instead of half-baked cliches, what they’ve crafted is a glistering highlight reel of late-noughties inflected alternative sounds that recall Arcade Fire through to Grizzly Bear – a vivid homage brimming with a heart-on-sleeve nostalgia.
Following the release of their debut album earlier this year, the NYC-based pair – formed of songwriter/general vibe shaper Julian McCamman and Brooklyn producer extraordinaire Dan Howard (also one half of Billboard Style) – have returned with a shimmering, hopeful new single ‘The Ugliest Girl On The Beach’, ahead of their highly anticipated appearance at the Pitchfork Festival in London this November. They have also, unsurprisingly, just signed to shit-hot US indie label Dead Oceans too.
Speaking rather poetically on the new single, Julian explains: “Sinking into the hot sand and watching the two blue lovers trying to kiss, forever caught in their parallel hell, I refused the barrier between me and nature. I’m still there, still trying for the answer: who am I when I’m alone?”
Photo by Kyle Berger
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