Sulfate Unveil New Single 'Aqui' + Announce Auckland Release Show

Anyone who's caught Sulfate onstage during the past twelve months will have been blown away by an Aotearoa group fully re-energised by the power and potentiality of sound creation. Helmed as always by Peter Ruddell (Wax Chattels), with drummer David Harris and recent recruit Zac Arnold on bass "fuzz and feedback", the first official example of Sulfate '26 is their new single 'Aqui'. A confidently ambitious noise-rock statement of intent nearly seven minutes in duration, Aqui' itself heralds the project's third album And It Wants — launching via Flying Nun Records and Holiday Records on 23rd October.

A multi-movement voyage from reality distorting vocal drones to charred and spiky post-punk to bone-splintering avant-doom crunch, 'Aqui' ponders the grim hubris of those who seek to delay their own inexorable fates. Since the recording of And It Wants, multi-instrumentalist Louisa Nicklin has joined the group, who'll be toasting their new single at Tāmaki Makaurau's snug The Apartment this Thursday.

Primarily recorded at West Fried Sound by Emily Wheatcroft-Snape, preorder the limited vinyl LP editions of And It Wants — Flying Nun black and white marble version HERE and Holiday Records red and black marble version HERE — and get up front for Sulfate...

"We dance around the fact that death comes for us all, but we never really, truly, acknowledge it - it’s just too big or heavy to have any kind of impact on our day to day existence. Aqui is about the desire to delay this inevitability, but in doing so creating an existence so devoid of joy, it’s as if you’re not living at all.

The writing of And It Wants was essentially starting a new band. It was a clean slate after a long break - with two major changes: Zac Arnold joining on bass guitar, and me moving from an overly elaborate keyboard setup to an electric guitar with as few pedals as possible. When starting Wax Chattels, I felt that if I kept the instrumentation simple it would force the band to push the songs further - make the structures and arrangements more interesting - rather than getting trapped in the tone-zone. I think this had the same effect on And It Wants, where I found we were really digging in - creating intensity through repetition - and where David in particular really stretches out on the drum kit. Zac’s inclusion in the group has had a significant impact on the group as a whole, much in the same way Hariet Ellis impacted Godzone. The way Zac plays bass isn’t like anyone else - he creates walls of noise, which we embraced wholeheartedly on this new record, and his wealth of music knowledge provided great context and guidance as we were in the writing stages."

Sulfate
Thursday 6th August - The Apartment, Auckland (doors 7pm, Sulfate at 7:45pm)
Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

'Aqui' is out today on major streaming platforms via Flying Nun Records.