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Unknown Mortal Orchestra, the project of multi-instrumentalist Ruban Nielson, has announced Curse, a new EP set for release on June 18th via Jagjaguwar. He’s also shared the new song “Boys with the Characteristics of Wolves,” the EP’s first single.
Curse serves as Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s second release of the year following March’s instrumental EP IC-02 Bogotá. It’s his first non-instrumental release since his 2023 double album V. On Curse, Nielson took inspiration from ’70s and ’80s Italian horror films and confronting “the void.”
In a statement, Nielson described the EP’s overarching themes: “In the hearts of men there are sometimes goodnesses hidden but substantial, which would be the difference in times of woe between finding oneself at the mercy of a monster or a more heroic creature. For the sake of sanity we can fool ourselves into believing these silver slivers of morality are visible from the outside, even when we know they aren’t. And anyway, so much of what we believe we can see from the outside is a mirage, especially these days.”
He continued: “In the clownish, happy-go-lucky soil of lies and chaos, a silly kind of music can grow; a senseless laughter, and we can amuse ourselves with it, however darkly. We can dance with lost minds and howl in valiant hysteria as the stormtroopers of death, confused and incredulous, pile us or those we love into their meat wagons.”
“Boys with the Characteristics of Wolves,” the EP’s first offering, builds a spindling riff, driving drums, and an air of tension to a rollicking, Sabbath-inspired chorus. It’s certainly a darker turn from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, especially given the bloody, eerie video directed by Nielson himself; but above all, it’s a headbang-worthy return. Stream the new song below.
Curse EP Artwork:
Curse EP Tracklist:
01. Aura
02. Boys with the Characteristics of Wolves
03. Death Comes from the Sky
04. One Hundred Bats
05. Sorcerers of Silence
06. Curse
English (US) · 