Last year, Vundabar netted their first platinum record with an eight-year-old tune called “Alien Blues.” The woes behind their next prospective plaque, however, are remarkably human.
Corralling the chaos a close family death, a nasty breakup, and one busted limb, the Boston band returns this week (June 25) with a feverish garage single and video titled “I Got Cracked.” The new release is a full throttle freak-out that grazes rock bottom, as frontman Brandon Hagen endures one of the most trying periods of his life. The new release also launches Vundabar’s new era as part of the Loma Vista Recordings family, which includes artists like Iggy Pop, Soccer Mommy, and Manchester Orchestra.
“In a six week window that I could only describe as a careening crash landing, a longterm relationship of mine imploded, my dad died, and I broke my arm in a hotel while on tour in Europe,” Hagen explains. “One week after that, I was at his funeral and the one after that I was recording this song in Los Angeles. I reeled at the connectedness of it all; so much of these intangible fractures now grounded in the very physical break within my body, this physical break then dictating the floatier bits as I made music determined by the limitations of that injury.”
“And I broke my heart / And I broke my arm / And I spread some ashes,” he recites on the chorus, summarizing a personal hell with a mere 15 words. But like many of life’s nadirs, the inspiration for the new song apparently produced a creative high for Vundabar; “I Got Cracked” presents some of the band’s best and freshest work to date.
Tune in below.
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