Australia’s The Murlocs, which features members of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, announced their first headlining North America tour and released a new single “Comfort Zone” with an accompanying video today. The tour includes stops at Shaky Knees, LA’s Teragram Ballroom, NYC’s Bowery Ballroom and Lincoln Hall in Chicago (all tour dates below). Tickets for all dates are on-sale now and available HERE.

Apple’s Beats 1 premiered The Murlocs’ new track “Comfort Zone” yesterday, and vocalist Ambrose Kenny-Smith explains poetically of it, “‘Comfort Zone is about finding shelter from the storm. Whilst others are out making a change most of us want to stay the same. Any fool can throw a punch but hate and violence won’t solve much.You can run but you can’t hide amongst the comfort zone of your own mind.” The song’s accompanying video is a dark and haunting tale, the juxtaposition between the music and the story the video tells making it all the more intriguing.

Inspired by the ganzfeld experiments of the 1970s which claim to provide compelling evidence for the existence of psychic abilities, director John Stewart explores what happens when this goes horrifically wrong in the “Comfort Zone” video. As he explains, “It is no surprise that the human psyche (whether one is aware of it or not) is soaked in fear and fascination with violence. I used the idea of a ‘comfort zone’ as an area to explore these fantasies and fears as they escalate. The ganzfield experiments used pseudo psychology to attempt to access the deeper recesses of a person’s ‘locked door’ of consciousness. What if they were to unlock some dark, ancient bloodlust buried deep?”

“Comfort Zone” is the band’s first new music since their 2017 album Old Locomotive. It was recorded in mid-2018 at Melbourne’s Newmarket studios, produced by Stu Mackenzie (King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard) and mixed by NYC musician Jarvis Taveniere (Real Estate, Woods, Parquet Courts).

Formed in late 2010 by harp player Ambrose Kenny-Smith, the five members of The Merlocs play their own blown-out, distorted brand of soulful RnB. They have already played numerous Australian music festivals as well as supporting acts such as Gary Clarke Jr., Mac Demarco, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, The Pixies, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, Wavves and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Their up-tempo snare cracks and noisy guitars, accompanied by Ambrose’s warm vocals have been described as a mesmerizing, demented dance party.

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The Murlocs will be playing as follows:

4/09 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom

4/10 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel

4/12 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios

4/13 – Vancouver, BC @ The Fox Cabaret

4/14 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza

4/16 – Bozeman, MT @ Filling Station

4/19 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club

4/20 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall

4/21 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern

4/22 – Grand Rapids, MI @ The Pyramid Scheme

4/24 – Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground

4/25 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz

4/27 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom

4/29 – New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine

5/01 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts – Black Box

5/02 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel

5/03 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall

5/05 – Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Festival

5/06 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s

5/07 – Austin, TX @ Barracuda