Pickle Darling Shares Sophomore Album 'Cosmonaut'

It's all systems go on the Pickle Darling album release launch! Today Cosmonaut is out digitally, on cassette tape and vinyl via Slovakian bedroom pop label ZTapes, one month before Lukas Mayo and the Pickle Darling band head out on an Aotearoa-wide headline tour. As the hotly awaited follow-up album to Mayo's debut LP Bigness, I would have never predicted their sound expanding into a magnificent lo-fi / folk / hyperpop melting pot, but here we are. Just four tracks in and 'Shrinkwrapped' is delivering delightful banjo and crunchy atmospheric glitchiness all at once, and then two tracks later we hear classic Pickle Darling soft strums and keys on 'Gently Crashes' — which garners a special shout out for the spoken word feature from Alayne Dick that hits like a punch to the gut at the halfway mark.

The final single and opening song ‘Achieve Lift!’ touches down with a gorgeous new video too, created with support from NZ On Air by production duo Karin Yamasaki and Keria Paterson aka K(SQUARED) Productions, who (as you'll see) constructed a wooden rocket ship for the occasion. Mayo says 'Achieve Lift!' is meant to be "a strange, lopsided introduction to the album, where it kind of tumbles in slowly and messily". So off you go, tumble into Cosmonaut...

Pickle Darling’s Cosmonaut Tour

Thursday 1st July - Grainstore Gallery, Oamaru*
Friday 2nd July - Bark, Dunedin*
Saturday 3rd July - Tuatara, Invercargill*
Saturday 10th July - Space Academy, Christchurch*
Thursday 15th July - The Wine Cellar, Auckland*
Friday 16th July - Jam Factory, Tauranga
Saturday 17th July - Nivara Lounge, Hamilton*
Thursday 22nd July - Moon, Wellington*
Friday 23rd July - Snails, Palmerston North*
Saturday 24th July - Paisley Stage, Napier*
Friday 30th July - The Boathouse, Nelson*
Saturday 31st July - The Mussel Inn, Onekaka*

*Tickets available HERE via UTR

Pickle Darling's sophomore album 'Cosmonaut' is out today via ZTapes.