Enemy Planes reveal tour dates and eerie video for the brilliant “We Want Blood”
When the hook to a song consists of the phrase, “Feel my life decaying,” you know you’re not exactly in for an Up With People-style celebration. And “We Want Blood,” the new single from Minneapolis’ Enemy Planes, doesn’t flinch from embracing a mournful, elegiac tone, masterfully capturing the sound of someone trying to see the light in the darkness, marking the passage of time. It’s the third track on their new album Beta Lowdown, which finds the group trafficking in downbeat and ethereal pop, fusing spare, guitar-driven music with elements of shoegaze, Massive Attack-style beats, and synth-laden darkness, as though Radiohead was covering songs by The Cure. It’s genuinely haunting—the music lingers with you long after the notes fade, impressing its discomfiting lyrics and melodies onto your brain.
The video for “Blood” reveals an equally eerie visual palette to match the track’s sense of impending collapse, as images suggest violence, death, but also, the slim possibility of rebirth. Singer Casey Call describes it thusly: “Above all else, ‘We Want Blood’ is really about embracing the frailty of our existence and celebrating the fleeting moments that we have. I really wanted to show how happiness and sorrow are so often interwoven, how in life there can be such a thin veil between love and heartache while recognizing that it’s not something one can totally understand. We wanted to do something that had an air of darkness and mystery to it while also embodying the simplistic beauty of the song. It’s always been fascinating to me how you can walk in one world, just a step ahead or behind of another, not knowing when those two contrasting universes might collide.” It’s not exactly hope, but it might be the closest Enemy Planes gets to such positivity.
Enemy Planes’ nonprofit record label, Rock The Cause, is donating a portion of the proceeds from Beta Lowdown to music charity Little Kids Rock. The band is going on tour this month to support the new album; the confirmed dates are listed below, with more to be announced in the coming days.
Enemy Planes 2016 spring tour:
April 20—Slowdown—Omaha, NE
April 21—Hi-Dive—Denver, CO
April 22—Phil’s Bar and Music Venue—Pueblo, CO
April 23—Buffalo Record Shop—Kearney, NE
April 26—The Demo—St. Louis, MO
April 27—MOTR Pub—Cincinnati, OH
April 28—The New Vintage—Louisville, KY
April 29—Tip Top—Grand Rapids, MI
May 3—Atwoods Tavern—Cambridge, MA
May 5—Pianos—New York, NY
May 6—Dawson Street Pub—Philadelphia, PA
May 7—Dogfish Head Brewing & Eats—Rehoboth Beach, DE
May 10—Beachland Tavern—Cleveland, OH
May 11—PJ’s Lager House—Detroit, MI
May 12—Beat Kitchen—Chicago, IL