Premiere: Cry Club share searing new single Nine of Swords, announce debut album

Header image by Giulia McGauran.

There's no band quite like Cry Club. Since their entrance back in 2018 with their debut single Walk Away, the duo have been impossible to pin down. When they first arrived as a Wollongong-based pairing, they came with a searing pop-punk sound that captured a sense of urgency and fierceness that's underpinned much of their work since, even if they move into the more pop-centric spheres with songs like Two Hearts and their latest single, Obvious. They're theatrical and bratty in the best of ways ('brat-pop' is a genre descriptor that somehow works perfectly for the duo), and there's a charm in everything they do that keeps Cry Club's work amongst Australia's best, and representative of a bright future for the music space as a whole.

In 2020, they've been moving with their eyes set on a debut album, and even if coronavirus has meant that it's not going exactly to the original plan, they've been keeping us fed with some of the country's best music in the meantime. Obvious, which arrived back in March, was a highlight for the duo that stands tall amongst the best music released this year, and their new single Nine of Swords keeps that continuing as the duo consistently carve out new sounds and make them their own.

First of all, we're incredibly stoked to announce news that Cry Club's long-awaited debut album is in fact arriving this year, with God I'm Such A Mess scheduled for a November 13th release. It's set to be an album that showcases Cry Club's many sides, moving them forward as a multi-faceted duo that capture the beauty and excitement of Australia's genre-melting musical future - something that they've been building towards for much of the last few years, and with their new single Nine of Swords, really starts to all come together.

From the get-go, Nine of Swords places itself on the heavier side of the Cry Club discography. Alongside last year's Robert Smith and their 2018 debut, it's a single that immediately focuses on these blaring guitar layers that gradually take ahold of the track across its duration until the beginning of a climactic burst just before the two-minute mark. However, the duo's vocal half Heather Riley adds their trademark charm to it that stops it from being a flat-out punk release, bringing that dramatic pop edge that they're constantly able to deliver time and time and time again.

There's something about Heather's vocal in every Cry Club release that brings it all together; their voice dancing and playing amongst the pacing instrumental in a way that almost makes the mania feel intimate and personal, with the theatrics and boldness of 'hyper-pop' influences showing a slight face through their ability to grace any instrumental - no matter how manic and dominative - with ease. This time around, they charade a deeper meaning about personal anxieties underneath it too, as the duo explain: "Nine of Swords is about overcoming your personal anxieties and moving past the unhealthy coping mechanisms you’ve created," they say. "Astrology, tarot cards and crystals aren’t going to replace working on bettering yourself, you’ll just continue to draw the Nine of Swords."

Astrology, tarot cards and crystals may not replace working on bettering yourself - true that - but do you know what'll pluck you out of the world for four minutes and take you on a real adventure? Cry Club's new single, which you can dive into below as it premieres on Pilerats ahead of its official release tomorrow. Stay tuned for the release of Cry Club's debut album God I'm Such A Mess this November 13 (and psst, keep your eye out for an album pre-order going up sometime soon):

Cry Club - God I'm Such A Mess 

1. DFTM
2. One Step
3. Don’t Go
4. Obvious
5. Wish
6. Lighters
7. Quit
8. Vertigo
9. Nine of Swords
10. Dissolve
11. Robert Smith
12. Two Hearts

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