Ducks Ltd. Announce Debut Album Modern Fiction, Release Lead Single “18 Cigarettes”

Back when they were making music as Ducks Unlimited, multi-instrumentalists Tom McGreevy and Evan Lewis made one of 2019’s best EPs, Get Bleak, earning a spot on Paste’s list of the year’s best new artists and a deal with Carpark Records. So we’re excited to report that the Toronto, Ontario, duo now known as Ducks Ltd. will release their full-length debut Modern Fiction via Carpark on Oct. 1, and have shared lead single/video “18 Cigarettes” to celebrate.

“18 Cigarettes” is squarely in the duo’s jangle-pop sweet spot, with hot-knife guitars and thrumming bass acting as its revving engine, and Eliza Neimi playing cello over its soaring choruses. Meanwhile, McGreevy’s narrator is “contemplating messes made,” and rationalizing his problems down to a manageable size however he can: “Smoking 18 cigarettes / Giving two away / Thinking smugly ‘how does anyone / smoke a pack a day?’”

Ducks Ltd. say their new single was inspired by a 1997 Oasis performance of “Don’t Go Away,” as McGreevy explains:

The thing I came to love about the song after watching that performance over and over again is that it’s a song that kind of tells on itself. It’s a really raw emotional expression from someone whose capacity to talk about their feelings is stunted and they’re cut up about it. “18 Cigarettes” is kind of an attempt to do a different version of what that song does.

McGreevy and Lewis enlisted producer James Cecil (The Goon Sax, Architecture in Helsinki) for Modern Fiction’s finishing touches, and their Carpark labelmates The Beths contribute backing vocals to three of the album’s 10 tracks. The “18 Cigarettes” video (dir. Ali Vanderkruyk) features McGreevy running around the band’s hometown.

Check that out below and see the details of Modern Fiction further down. You can preorder the record right here.

Modern Fiction Tracklist:
01. How Lonely Are You
02. Old Times
03. 18 Cigarettes
04. Under the Rolling Moon
05. Fit to Burst
06. Patience Wearing Thin
07. Always There
08. Sullen Leering Hope
09. ‘Twere Ever Thus
10. Grand Final Day

Modern Fiction Album Art: