You Can Meet Chromatics in the Cemetery on “Famous Monsters”
Images via Johnny Jewel/Italians Do It Better
Chromatics have shared their second new track of 2020. “Famous Monsters” follows last month’s “TOY,” with an accompanying instrumental version. The track is a smokey house number, with alluring keys and singer Ruth Radelet reciting a strange spoken-word poem. It’s a bit different for the group, leaning into Johnny Jewel’s more electronic projects à la Desire.
The song comes coupled with a Jewel-directed video. Like you might expect, it features Radelet amidst striking imagery, with some psychedelic effects and disorienting lighting. The video ends with a notification of an R rating (for “Ruth Radelet”) and a title card, as if the video were an ad for a forthcoming film. It’s what everyone wants from the enigmatic band—filmic pomp, perfect for inlaying in any film or auteur TV show from their live appearance in Twin Peaks: The Return to last year’s cover of Hole’s “Petals” for Netflix film The Perfection.
There’s still no word on whether “TOY” or “Famous Monsters” will be included on a new LP, let alone whether the much-delayed Dear Tommy will rear its head anytime soon (or if it exists at all). As time continues to pass, Dear Tommy may as well be a myth.
You can check out the video and single art for “Famous Monsters” below. It and the instrumental version are available on all streaming services.
“Famous Monsters” Single Art