LA post-punk trio Automatic have released their debut album ‘Signal,’ and have also shared the video for the single Strange Conversations, which was directed by Byron Blum of POW! Watch the video clip via YouTube below.
Capturing the album’s feeling of alienation, the Strange Conversations video stars model Sarah Abney as a lone visitor to a bar where Automatic is playing on a quiet Tuesday night. The video also features a cameo from new Stones Throw signing John Carroll Kirby.
‘Signal‘ is out now on regular vinyl, limited edition bright red vinyl, CD, and on all digital platforms. ‘Signal’ mixes together Automatic’s taste for dub reggae, motorik rhythms, and gnarly synth work inspired by bands like NEU! and Suicide with the eerie atmosphere of films by auteurs like David Lynch and Dario Argento. Singles include Too Much Money and Calling It.
Automatic
‘Signal’
Stones Throw Records
September 27, 2019
1. Too Much Money
2. Calling It
3. Suicide In Texas
4. Love You Fine
5. Highway
6. Signal
7. Humanoid
8. Damage
9. Electrocution
10. Champagne
11. Strange Conversations
Stream / buy ‘Signal’: Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes | Apple Music
This October, Automatic will play at Desert Daze Festival and head out on their first headline Europe tour, before returning to the US to open for Bauhaus at their reunion shows at the Hollywood Palladium and play at Austin’s Levitation Festival. They’ll then join Black Marble on the road for a North American tour. All tickets are available here.
Tour dates
Oct:
11-13 October – Perris, CA @ Desert Daze
17 October – Paris, France @ Mains D’oeuvres
18 October – Lille, France @ L’Aéronef
19 October – Groningen, Netherlands @ Vera
20 October – Eindhoven, Netherlands @ DDW Music Festival
22 October – London, UK @ Shacklewell Arms
23 October – Bristol, UK @ The Lanes
25 October – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ London Calling Festival
28 October – Berlin, Germany @ Urban Spree
29 October – Antwerp, Belgium @ Trix
Nov:
3 November – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium∞
4 November – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium∞
7 November – Austin, TX @ Levitation*
8 November – Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th Street OKC^
9 November – Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone^
10 November – Nashville, TN @ The Basement^
12 November – Columbus, OH @ Oberlin College^
13 November – State College, PA @ Webster’s^
14 November – Oberlin, OH @ Oberlin College^
15 November – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
16 November – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz^
19 November – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom^
20 November – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts^
21 November – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery^
22 November – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom^
24 November – Washington, DC @ Black Cat^
∞ = w/ Bauhaus
* = w/ Angel Olsen, Kikagaku Moyo, Black Marble, Holy Wave and more
^ = w/ Black Marble
More about Automatic?
Like all the best bands, Automatic came together organically. Izzy Glaudini (synths, vocals), Lola Dompé (drums, vocals) and Halle Saxon (bass, vocals) met while immersed in LA’s DIY band scene, and started jamming together in 2017. Gaining notoriety for their explosive live shows, they were invited to share the stage with bands like Surfbort, Wand and Flatworms.
Lola was born into a punk household (her father is Kevin Haskins of Bauhaus) and joined her first band, art-rock outfit Blackblack, when she was just 13. Halle and Izzy met playing in local bands in Northeast LA; Izzy was a guitarist and vocalist, and Halle liked to plug her fretless bass into a guitar amp. Uninspired by the masculine energy of the local scene and rock music on the radio – “pumped out like plastic bottles into the ocean” – Izzy ditched the guitar for a synth, and in 2017 she and Halle joined forces with Lola. They named themselves Automatic after a song by the Go-Go’s – the only all-female rock band to have written and played instruments on an album to reach #1 in the US.
Izzy studied film at college and Halle used to work at cult video store Kim’s Video in NYC, and the band also counts film as an important influence on their music. In particular, David Lynch and Dario Argento’s fingerprints are all over Signal’s ambiguous lyrics and eerie atmospheres.
