Formed in 2015 and comprised of Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan), Joshua Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv, Sons of Magdalene, Nine Inch Nails), and Steven Alexander (former tech for The Dillinger Escape Plan, Nine Inch Nails, and pop star, Kesha), L.A.'s The Black Queen released their debut album, Fever Daydream, in 2016 to some notable critical acclaim. This new one of theirs, Infinite Games, sounds even better, and smells like a breakthrough.
"This time, we learned how to do everything ourselves," explains Puciato in relation to the creative process. "There’s less uncertainty and more confidence. I’m speaking both about the artistic and business aspect of creating and releasing an album. As for what’s changed with Infinite Games, I think it feels more conceptual as an album. It’s less a collection of songs and more about the front to back listen. Probably because it wasn’t compiled over a four-year span of time like the last one. This one is actually hookier but more insidious, it’s a more delicate record."
The new album has already generated a couple of singles and accompanying videos for the songs Thrown into the Dark and Your Move, both of which were shot and directed by the trio themselves.
"Your Move was one of the fastest songs to be written," Puciato says. "The demo and lyrics for this song were completed on the flight back from India after playing there with Dillinger. We finished it in a few days a week or so later, sometime in December of last year. Lyrically it just touches on the intoxication of sharing intimacy with someone guarded while also knowing that it's unsustainable, but wanting it not to be. The line ‘your move’ is a reference to the inevitable stalemate/playing chicken game that two people with vulnerability/permanence issues face after their initial phase reaches its limitation. Steve and I collaborated on the video."
This is the finest new wave can get circa 2018. This is how Depeche Mode would have ideally sounded like if they had taken a darker route from Songs of Faith and Devotion and on.
Infinite Games is out now on Federal Prisoner, the newly founded label the band formed alongside artist Jesse Draxler.
Tour dates
October 9 Manchester, UK Deaf Institute
October 10 Nottingham, UK Nottingham Contemporary
October 11 London, UK Bush Hall
October 12 Tilburg, Netherlands Poppodium 013
October 15 Sint-Niklaas, Belgium Sint-Niklaas De Casino
October 16 Frankfurt, Germany Zoom
October 18 Cologne, Germany Blue Shell
October 19 Paris, France Supersonic
October 20 Milan, Italy Legend 54
October 22 Vienna, Austria B 72
October 23 Munich, Germany Backstage Halle
October 24 Leipzig, Germany Werk 2
October 25 Prague, Czech Republic Chapeau Rouge
October 26 Warsaw, Poland Klug Hybrydy
October 27 Berlin, Germany Gretchen
October 28 Hamburg, Germany Nochtspeicher
October 30 Copenhagen, Denmark Stengade
October 31 Oslo, Norway Parkteatret
November 1 Stockholm, Sweden Nalen
November 3 St. Petersburg, Russia Mod Club
November 4 Moscow, Russia 16 Tons
January 18 Sydney, Australia Landsdowne Hotel
January 19 Melbourne, Australia Northcote Social Club
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