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May 18, 2021 By Mark Redfern Photography by CJ Harvey

Boston’s Vundabar have shared two new songs, “Aphasia” and “Ringing Bell,” and also announced some tour dates. “Aphasia” was shared via an amusing video featuring the band as vampires and features guest vocals from Indigo De Souza. Check out the songs and tour dates below.

Vundabar singer/guitarist Brandon Hagen had this to say about “Aphasia” in a press release: “The creation of this song was sparked by my dad having a stroke that has resulted in global aphasia. That happening, on top of quarantine, produced a crisis within a crisis. The song originated as being about having difficulty describing the world and yourself, and then my pops’ stroke happened and it felt uncanny and fated.”

Hagen’s sister and her boyfriend assisted in the making of the video. “There was a lot of heaviness,” Hagen says about the making of the video. “My sister is a producer/director, her boyfriend is a cinematographer and I make songs so we took all of our sadness, nervous energy and fear of death and channeled it into making something light and fun—something to counterbalance what we were dealing with. It feels fitting that the video is about vampires, your classic death creature, having a goofy romp—it reflects what we were trying to do—flip a feeling on its head, and that feels very Vundabar-ish.”

Vundabar released a new album, Either Light, last year via Gawk. Previously Vundabar shared Either Light’s first single, “Burned Off,” via a playful video for the track. “Burned Off” was one of our Songs of the Week. Then the band shared another song from the album, “Petty Crime,” via an amusing self-directed video for the track inspired by The Sopranos. “Petty Crime” was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared another song from the album, “Montage Music,” via a lyric video (it was also one of our Songs of the Week). Then they shared one last pre-release single from it, album opener “Out of It” (as well as a video for the song, which was also one of our Songs of the Week). Either Light was the follow-up to 2018’s Smell Smoke and found the band working with a producer for the first time, Patrick Hyland (Mitski).

Vundabar Tour Dates:

Thursday, September 23 - Boise, ID @ Treefort Festival
Friday, September 24 - Reno, NV @ Holland Project
Saturday, September 25 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
Wednesday, September 29 - Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Wednesday, October 20 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Thursday, October 21 - Philadelphia, PA @ TBA
Friday, October 22 - Philadelphia, PA @ TBA
Saturday, October 23 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

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