Mistletone

The magical new single from Australia’s most astute songwriting auteur, Ross McLennan, “General Singh“ is on digital release on Mistletone Records via Inertia.

• “This song certainly is an intriguing piece of work, starting with a series of moody, minor-chord observations of the eponymous General and the world he inhabits — ‘Carnival rides/ Hawking sights of forgotten machinery… an array of B-film scenery’ — before erupting into a brass-led chorus that finds McLennan imploring Singh to ‘sing… sing well’” – FLAVORWIRE

A fictional character embodying the anxieties of our time, “General Singh” is someone isolated from their fellow humans as a result of trauma. “I wander lost in public space”, sings Ross McLennan, and we envisage General Singh sitting on a train in dissociative state, wearing clothes that someone has provided. General Singh is about to embark on a regimen of weekly therapy, and worries that a string of miscommunications may lead to disappearing completely.

As Ross McLennan cryptically explains, “Crimes they have witnessed and in truth have themselves committed have led them to believe that happiness is not appropriate. The shit is really hitting the fan.”

Since disbanding Snout, his iconic indie-pop band from the 1990s, Ross McLennan released the AMP-shortlisted Sympathy For the New World album, followed by last year’s equally impressive The Night’s Deeds Are Vapour. “By name and mercurial nature, The Night’s Deeds are Vapour is about the thrilling transience of impulses and ideas, from eerie woodwind that slides around tonal certainty to lyrics seemingly on their own journey of discovery moment by moment”, enthused the Sydney Morning Herald.

MELBOURNE LAUNCH EVENT:

Ross McLennan and The New World, his remarkable 11-piece band, make one of their uncommon and unmissable performances at The Post Office Hotel, Coburg to launch “General Singh” on Sunday, October 19. Starts 4pm. Two sets. Free entry.