GUM / Ambrose Kenny-Smith – made of Jay Watson (Gum, Pond, Tame Impala) and Ambrose Kenny-Smith (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, The Murlocs) – present a special new single/video, “Dud,” from their forthcoming record Ill Times, out July 19th via King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s recently-announced p(doom) records. Loss is a recurring theme across Ill Times, and today’s “Dud,” co-written by Ambrose’s late father, acclaimed musician Broderick Smith, is an ode to the gravitas of losing someone, as well as a thundering celebration of life. Its lyrics were mainly written by Broderick Smith, with Ambrose finishing off a few of the lyrics in the verses and the chorus. His lyrics, especially in context of his father’s passing, are especially poignant: “I had an open heart, I believe I was told to guard it, instead I let it break apart.”
The beautiful, cinematic accompanying video, directed by Matt Wallace and Jack Rule of Recliner Films, sees Ambrose Kenny-Smith riding horseback through bushland in the outskirts of his hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Rule describes the video as landing “somewhere between happy and sad.” He explains, “Sam, an actor and friend of ours played the role perfectly and, when he started to break into dance, he kind of became this emotional extension of Ambrose who could help share the load of the very real emotional heft of this beautiful track.”
Kenny-Smith further explains: “After my Dad passed away in May last year, we never got to properly finish the song together. It only felt right to make the chorus as more of a send off to him. I miss him everyday but I’m so glad I now have this song to remember him by. It helped me process his passing a lot. Dad used to always sign off on his emails and birthday cards with ‘- love Dud x.’”
Watson adds: “This one started as a demo Ambrose sent me, with the songwriting all there. I loved the melody and the classic chord progression, and ran about half of the stems through a tremolo, as well as adding some Vox repeater fuzz tremolo, a classic Spacemen 3 trick. It just sounded like Track 1 to me, I don’t know why.”
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