New Zealand indie rockers Mermaidens have announced their third album Look Me in the Eye, releasing a new track “I Might Disappear,” which finds the band at their skronkiest. Guitar riffs twinkle with a hint of discordance, layered nicely with a brooding bass line that propels the song forward over taut drum fills and warbling synths. Gussie Larkin’s vocals season the track with a peppery euphony, tying the instrumentation together with a shimmering quality as she sings of temporal anxieties and growing up; “Spent the summer, wrung and hung out / I’m moving past my skin,” she sings with an almost nostalgic warmth.
Look Me in the Eye is set to “expose motifs of exterior masks, human relationships and power dynamics with unflinching fervour” while centering female voices. The album was recorded in Wellington, the band’s hometown, with longtime collaborator James Goldsmith; Mermaidens promise that it will be experimental and accessible in equal measure.
Look Me in the Eye is due out Sep. 6 via Flying Nun Records.