Sulfate Announce 'And It Wants' Aotearoa Tour + Share Single 'Judgement'

The noisy new era of Sulfate's And It Wants has nearly arrived, and it's either get on board or be left behind. Representing an evolutionary leap for the freshly reconceived project of Peter Ruddell (Wax Chattels), David Harris, Zac Arnold (Sere, Sunreturn) and live bandmate Louisa Nicklin, Sulfate's third studio long player will be out via Flying Nun Records / Holiday Records on 23rd October. Their powerhouse onstage presence leaving ears ringing and jaws agape, the Aotearoa collective have announced a six date album release tour, taking them from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland to Waihōpai Invercargill and back again this coming October.

Even more uncompromising than maximal initial salvo 'Aqui', Sulfate's new eight minute single 'Judgement' feels both overwhelming and claustrophobic in its hammering noise-rock intensity and plummeting, low-end drone worship. Avant-jazz sax squalls and chattering sample loops only amplify the tune's ten-coffees-too-many, edge of sanity impact, happily reminding these years of similarly committed Load Records / Providence, Rhode Island combos of yore. Sulfate helmsman Peter Ruddell unpacked 'Judgement's uneasy listening intentions — preorder And It Wants on Black & White / Red & Black vinyl LP and snag tickets immediately...

"I liked the idea of creating a song that sat in discomfort, and which created a feeling of panic and fear that simply doesn’t abate - it is always there, it is inescapable, and it is alluring. The individual sound of each instrument needed to be abrasive on its own so that when combined it is as if everything is fighting for attention. If something needs to be created, if it is of value and worthy of being brought into the world, it should be created in its full and complete form - without compromise.

The song tries to capture the feeling of being unable to understand what is real and what is not - where all that exists is inescapable panic, confusion and fear. I had in mind that this is how we might feel as we are in our final moments. It’s also about arrogance and overconfidence - how when we are young we feel a sense of certainty in the way of things, but as we age we realise that nothing is certain, that our grasp on reality is incredibly tenuous, and that the only thing we really know is that we know nothing.

Judgement is a comment on how little we can ever understand the world. How even if we study the mistakes of our past and try to avoid making them again, the knowledge we gain reflects only a tiny fraction of what we need to make a rational, informed decision - and we are ultimately at the whims of greater, unknowable forces and doomed to repeat the mistakes anyway. The unknown unknowns are simply too many." - Peter Ruddell

Sulfate 'And It Wants' Aotearoa Tour

Friday 23rd October - The Crown Hotel, Dunedin

Saturday 24th October - Threes & Sevens Records, Invercargill
Sunday 25th October - Space Academy, Christchurch

Friday 6th November - Goblin, Auckland
Friday 13th November - Meow, Wellington*
Saturday 14th November - Porridge Watson, Whanganui

Tickets on sale HERE via UTR 
*Wellington tickets via meow.nz

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