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Anamanaguchi announce [USA], first album in 5 years, with "Lorem Ipsum (Arctic Anthem)"

August 29, 2019

After a long career of clever independence and innovation Anamanaguchi have announced their new album, [USA], 5+ years in the making, out digitally October 25th with physical arriving November 15th. Pre-order your 2xLP Early Bird copy now from the Polyvinyl Store on limited edition Electric Blue & Bone Yellow vinyl.

“While fantasy can be an amazing way to experience beauty, happiness... feelings in general, it often stands tension with reality: in our interactions with other people and the world we live in. [USA] is inspired by the struggles of acknowledging the distinction between the two... a process so many of us seem to be undergoing.” - Anamanaguchi's Ary Warnaar

Watch the lyric video for the highly anticipated album's lead single "Lorem Ipsum (Arctic Anthem)" below.

“This song deals with environmental forces so immense as to be beyond our control, but not our ability to notice and grasp the effects they bear on us. There’s a lot more in the album about these unavoidable realities — conditions, names, identities, labels — that none of us chose, but have to learn to live with.” - Anamanaguchi's Peter Berkman

The lyrics - sung in Latin using Vocaloid - are taken from the popular “lorem ipsum” dummy text used in typesetting and graphic design, but restored to the form of its somewhat surprising original source: Cicero’s 1st-century BC discourse on the distinction between pleasure and goodness. The chorus lyrics “La, la la“ are also a musical form of dummy text (the "do-re-mi" also made of Latin syllables), but are sung to an imperative sounding melody reminiscent of a national anthem.

“The decision to use words on this album gave it a new kind of structure that let us explore familiar feelings in a different way,” Berkman adds, “like the feeling of ‘happy tears’ that comes from the combination of losing and understanding, but neither on their own.”

Since forming in the mid-2000s, Anamanaguchi have been revered as pioneers in the homemade, video game world of chiptune music: they combine a loud and fast live band with hyper-melodic squarewaves from hacked Nintendo hardware. Though the band has always been inventive, [USA] is a significant progression. For years, Anamanaguchi presented an optimistic, overdriven version of art on the internet. [USA] is equally ambitious in its world-building, but it marks a departure that is in part sonic — they employ a much wider palette of sounds and voices, both synthetic and human, than ever before — as well as conceptual: perhaps for the first time, Anamanaguchi confront reality.

Also announcing today is the band's fall tour, including full-day expos in select cities where Anamanaguchi will perform [USA] in its entirety with extended visual production. Before the show, the [USA] Expo will feature special events curated by and featuring the band, plus a limited edition pop-up shop. Presale tickets go onsale Tuesday, September 3rd @ 10AM CT.