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Merchandise - 'Lonesome Sound' Video, Florida Release Week Activity
Merchandise : 'Lonesome Sound' Video, Florida Release Week Activity
8th September 2016

Following the release of singles ‘Flower Of Sex’ and ‘End Of The Week’, Merchandise have launched a third track ‘Lonesome Sound’ from their forthcoming long-player A Corpse Wired For Sound.

The infectious melancholy of ‘Lonesome Sound’ has been brought to life by frontman Carson Cox, whose filmmaker credits also extend to the two previous A Corpse Wired For Sound singles.  Here he has crafted a static-charged video largely inspired by the ritual filmmaking of Kenneth Anger.  As with many of the videos Cox makes, it takes its cues from the American underground film pioneer Maya Deren.  Elaborating further he explains, “the video for ‘Lonesome Sound’ is meant to be a more mythical or classical representation of the lyrics.  The Woman as Goddess and the Man as her vessel.  The two mime an abstract love story on an empty stage.  Television static represents the void and loneliness of Earth where there are other signs of life but are totally incomprehensible.  The static is also a symbol of media and the distortion of communication.  A silent cowboy whistles Jimmie Rodgers under the moon on a blank Earth.  These are the only two witnesses to the shadow play."

Cox concludes, “it is not my intention to tell a story but to play with reality and fiction in search of a sort of ambiguity that more reflects my personal experience.  There’s no happy ending here, but there is a light show.”

The band will release their album nearly a full week early in their homestate of Florida alongside ‘Merchandise, Florida’ events.  The band will kick off with an in-store at Orlando’s Park Ave CDs on Monday, 19th September followed by a performance in their hometown of Tampa on WFTV’s Morning Blend at 10am on Tuesday.  They’ll also host intimate in-store events in Tampa, Miami, and Gainesville in addition to proper shows in the former two cities between 19th and 24th September.

Formed nearly a decade ago, galvanized by Tampa hardcore and inspired by its miscreant noise, A Corpse Wired For Sound signals a new chapter for Merchandise. Following 2014’s After The End — a full-band effort recorded in a closet — the band stripped back to its core of Carson Cox (vocals, electronics), Dave Vassalotti (guitar, electronics) and Pat Brady (bass). The trio travelled to Rosà, Italy for their first ever sessions in a recording studio with a local, Maurizio Baggio. The nine-song nocturnal A Corpse Wired For Sound was recorded half in the studio and half at home, in Tampa as well as Cox’s newly adopted bases of New York and Berlin – the culmination of a long-distance collaboration between Cox and Vassalotti.

“We were ‘reborn’ as a rock band for After The End," says Vassalotti, “and then we straight-up died again.  It couldn’t last.  The result is this distended corpse responding to you from both sides of the Atlantic, forever singing in spite of everything.”  Cox continues further, “it’s about the truth of growing up.  You can’t take your friends or lovers with you.  It’s about finding peace with that loneliness.”

A Corpse Wired For Sound is released on 23rd September 2016.
Pre-order on LP/CD via 4AD Store here.
Pre-order from all platforms here.

Merchandise’s huge three-month tour begins on the eve of A Corpse Wired For Sound’s release, and the trio will visit the UK in November, with headline shows scheduled in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds, with support from EZTV.

September
22nd - Gramps, Miami FL, US #
23rd - Crowbar, Tampa FL, US #
24th - The Atlantic, Gainesville FL, US #
25th - The Masquerade, Atlanta GA, US # 
26th - Georgia Theatre Rooftop, Athens GA, US #
27th - 12th & Porter, Nashville TN, US #
28th - Zanzabar, Louisville KY, US #
29th - Blank Space, St Louis MO, US #
30th - Empty Bottle, Chicago IL, US #

October
1st - Mahall's 20 Lanes, Cleveland OH, US #
2nd - Marble Bar, Detroit MI, US #
3rd - Silver Dollar, Toronto ON, Canada #
5th - Vitrola, Montreal QC, Canada #
6th - 3S Artspace, Portsmouth NH, US #
7th - The Great Scott, Boston MA, US #
8th - Columbus Theater, Providence RI, US #
9th - Market Hotel, Brooklyn NY, US #
11th - Monty Hall, Jersey City NJ, US #
12th - PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia PA, US #
13th - DC9, Washington DC, US #
14th - Gallery5, Richmond VA, US #
15th - Kings, Raleigh NC, US #
26th - Tape, Aarhus, Denmark * [Tickets]
27th - Stengade, Copenhagen, Denmark * [Tickets]
28th - Nr.z.P, Bielefeld, Germany * [Tickets]
29th - Westwek, Leipzig, Germany *
30th - Tiefgrund, Berlin, Germany *
31st - S105, Amsterdam, Netherlands * [Tickets]

November
2nd - The Lexington, London, UK * [Tickets]
3rd - The Castle Hotel, Manchester, UK * [Tickets]
4th - Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham, UK * [Tickets]
5th - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK ^ [Tickets]
7th - Rotonde - Botanique, Brussels, Belgium * [Tickets]
8th - Mecanique Ondulatoire, Paris, France * [Tickets]
10th - Rössli, Bern, Switzerland * [Tickets]
11th - Cox, Milan, Italy *
12th - i Vizi del Pellicano, Correggio, Italy * [Tickets]
13th - C.S. Rivolta, Marghera, Italy *
14th - Mocvara, Zagreb, Croatia * [Tickets]
15th - Posthof, Linz, Austria * [Tickets]
16th - Café V lese, Prague, Czech Republic * [Tickets]
26th - 89th Street Collective, Oklahoma City OK, US %
28th - Hi-Dive, Denver CO, US %
30th - Neurolux, Boise ID, US %

December
1st - Barboza, Seattle WA, US %
2nd - Fortune, Vancouver BC, Canada %
3rd - Mississippi Studios, Portland OR, US %
5th - Harlows, Sacramento CA, US %
6th - Swedish, San Francisco CA, US %
7th - Moe's, Santa Cruz CA, US %
9th - Hideout, San Diego CA, US %
10th - The Echo, Los Angeles CA, US %
11th - Valley Bar, Phoeniz AZ, US %
12th - Sister, Albuquerque NM, US %
14th - Paper Tiger, San Antonio TX, US %
15th - Sidewinder, Austin TX, US %
16th - Walter's, Houston TX, US %
17th - Siberia, New Orleans LA, US %

# - w/ Public Memory
* - w/ EZTV
^ - w/ Preoccupations
% - w/ Gun Outift