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Jan 28, 2021 By Joey Arnone Chad VanGaalen

Chad VanGaalen has announced a new album, World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener, which will be out on March 19 on Sub Pop. Concurrent with the announcement, VanGaalen has shared a video, which he animated himself, for the lead single “Samurai Sword.” This upcoming Saturday (Jan. 30), the video will make its TV debut on Adult Swim’s Toonami. You can check it out below, along with the cover art and tracklist for the album.

VanGaalen speaks about “Samurai Sword” in a press release: “I had just ripped a bunch of old leaking copper pipe out of my basement in a reno job that I jumped into willy nilly. Realizing how magical the pipes sounded, I put them on some dirty styrofoam and banged out the janky beat that introduces the song! Garbage is life. It just spilled out in a couple minutes. I didn’t try to stop it because I was smiling like I was just cruising through my neighbourhood. Simple like a sandbox. An ode to the simplicity. It’s hard to let things be simple. But simple is easy on the mind, and being jovial in song is something I find really difficult. Why? What?”

He also went in a bit on creating the song’s video: “I was drawing black and white plant backgrounds for this song because of the great old samurai movies of the past. I like how nature sometimes takes the lead. I was getting all knotted in my mind about the sky. I looked at my dad’s watercolor paintings of a sky, and felt like I couldn’t get the feel right. So, I just borrowed his sky for a scene and then I realized that my dad’s paintings were perfect and already full of real life energy. I used them to finish the video and felt like we got to go on this quest together. In my mind. Fuck time.”

VanGaalen hid several Easter eggs throughout the video, adding: “To stop myself going squirrely over the last few months, I started hiding things as I animated this video.” He created the “Samurai Sword Scavenger Hunt” in order to challenge fans to find them. Every week for the next three weeks (through Feb. 18), fans can enter to win a prize pack on VanGaalen’s website, which includes a copy of his new album and other personalized items from him. A grand prize will be given at the end of the contest for fans who have entered for each week. You can enter here.

Last year, VanGaalen created animated videos for Sun Ra Arkestra and Wolf Parade. In 2018, he shared a new song, “Monopoly Arp,” as a part of Adult Swim’s Singles Program. His most recent album, Light Information, came out in 2017 on Sub Pop.

World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener Tracklist:

1. Spider Milk
2. Flute Peace
3. Starlight
4. Where Is It All Going?
5. Earth From a Distance
6. Nightwaves
7. Plant Music
8. Nothing Is Strange
9. Inner Fire
10. Golden Pear
11. Nightmare Scenario
12. Samurai Sword
13. Water Brother

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