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NYC-via-Athens, Ga. punk outfit Bambara have announced a new album Stray, out on Feb. 14, 2020, via Wharf Cat Records, along with its lead track “Serafina” and a hefty tour schedule. Stray will follow their 2018 LP Shadow on Everything.
“Serafina” follows a mysterious woman who “smiles with matches in her mouth” and possesses a stare that “burns a solar flare.” The arson-loving title character meets a woman named Sadie, and they get into various outdoor mischief together, always laughing in the face of death’s imminent call. The song’s ominous punk is like a devilish grin in the moonlight with frontman Reid Bateh as a doomy onlooker, narrating the lives of two partners in crime.
“Stray is a death-obsessed album,” explains Bateh. “Most of the songs are about different characters’ futile attempts at living meaningful lives under the weight of imminent annihilation. I wanted ‘Serafina’ to feel different. I wanted the song to radiate a sort of wild-eyed hope. A youthful disregard for death itself. Serafina and Sadie live exactly how they want to live, exploring their love for one another before a backdrop of flames. The knowledge of their own mortality takes nothing from their enthusiasm for life. If anything, they see it as a challenge they might one day overcome together. When they say, ‘We’ll never die’ I want it to feel like they might actually have a shot.”
Listen to “Serafina” and see Bambara’s upcoming tour slate below. You can preorder Stray here.