Daily Dose is your daily source for the song you absolutely, positively need to hear every day. Curated by the Paste Music Team.
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.
Bambara Tour Dates:
October
19 – Bristol, U.K. @ Simple Things Fest
20 – Cardiff, U.K. @ SWN Fest
22 – Manchester, U.K. @ Soup Kitchen
23 – Leeds, U.K. @ Hyde Park Book Club
25 – Sheffield, U.K. @ Record Junkie
26 – Glasgow, U.K. @ The Poetry Club
28 – Brighton, U.K. @ Green Door Store
29 – London, U.K. @ Sebright Arms
November
08 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ St. Vitus
February 2020
19 – Washington, D.C. @ Union Stage
20 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Boot & Saddle
22 – Boston, Mass. @ Great Scott
24 – Montreal, Que. @ Bar Le Ritz
25 – Toronto, Ont. @ The Garrison
26 – Cleveland, Ohio @ Beachland Tavern
27 – Detroit, Mich. @ PJ’s Lager House
28 – Chicago, Ill. @ Sleeping Village
29 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ 7th Street Entry
March 2020
03 – Seattle, Wash. @ The Sunset
04 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Fox Cabaret
05 – Portland, Ore. @ Doug Fir Lounge
06 – San Francisco, Calif. @ Cafe Du Nord
07 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Echo
09 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ The Rebel Lounge
10 – El Paso, Texas @ Lowbrow Palace
11 – Austin, Texas @ Barracuda
12 – Dallas, Texas @ Ruins
13 – Memphis, Tenn. @ Hi Tone (Small Room)
14 – Nashville, Tenn. @ The High Watt
15 – Atlanta, Ga. @ The Earl
17 – Carrboro, N.C. @ Cat’s Cradle (Back Room)