Calm Ya Farm The Murlocs

• 1Initiative03:10
• 2Common Sense Civilian03:48
• 3Russian Roulette03:54
• 4Superstitious Insights03:39
• 5Centennial Perspective02:41
• 6Queen Pinky03:57
• 7Undone and Unashamed03:58
• 8Captain Cotton Mouth02:45
• 9Catfish03:49
• 10Smithereens03:25
• 11Forbidden Toad02:32
• 12Aletophyte02:44
• Total Runtime40:22

Info for Calm Ya Farm

Melbourne’s The Murlocs have announced their brand new studio album, Calm Ya Farm, due out May 19 on ATO Records. Following their 2022 garage-psych opus Rapscallion, the band initially set out with a vision of creating a quintessential country-rock record: inspired by iconic albums like The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo as well as the hazier edges of the mid-’70s British pub-rock scene. Spiked with The Murlocs’ signature breed of sharply crafted garage-punk—and with lead vocalist, guitarist & harmonica triple threat Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s surrealist musings on the ever-turbulent world around him—the new collection ultimately twists country-rock convention into a free-flowing album fully in touch with the frenetic energy of modern life.

Recorded in their home studios and mixed by repeat collaborator John Lee, Calm Ya Farm brings that sun-drenched sound to tracks like lead single “Initiative”: a sweetly raucous anthem for growing up without completely shaking off your reckless side. Released today alongside an official video, Kenny-Smith explains, “It’s about recognizing the need to start taking responsibility for your life instead of always living in the now and killing all your brain cells along the way. Not everyone wants the big family and the big house with the white picket fence. Everything happens for a reason and sometimes you need to take things more seriously and make a few power moves in life to find out what comes next in the crystal ball.”

As the band’s most collaborative work to date, Calm Ya Farm unfolds in more elaborate and sophisticated arrangements and achieves new sonic depths largely by creating space for all five members to pursue their most eccentric impulses. “With this record we tried to steer away from all the distortion and dirt and grit, or at least let the grit come off a bit more clean-sounding,” says Kenny-Smith, who, in addition to guitarist Callum Shortal (Orb and Tim is in Crepes), drummer Matt Blach (Beans) and keyboardist Tim Karmouche, also plays with bassist Cook Craig (Pipe-Eye) in the globally beloved psych-rock powerhouse King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Over the course of its 12 wildly catchy tracks, Calm Ya Farm touches on everything from the vicious tone of political discourse to the brain-addling effect of conspiracy theories, adorned with such unexpected flourishes as lush flute melodies, potent flamenco-guitar riffs, and dreamlike Farfisa tones.

While Calm Ya Farm contains plenty of frenzied tension, the album quickly reveals its power to ease the listener into a more serene state of mind. This is fitting for the album’s title which Kenny-Smith explains is “something my partner always says to me when I’m feeling stressed-out or anxious. It made sense with the whole country theme of the record, but it’s generally a good reminder for day-to-day life. Now whenever I look down, I can remember to just chill out and take everything a little easier.”

The Murlocs

The Murlocs
Australian band The Murlocs have often been labeled garage rockers, and while their music certainly does have a "garagy" feel to it, the band have evolved to explore pop, Americana and even heavy metal influences in their songwriting.

Fronted by Ambrose Kenny-Smith of Australian rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard on vocals and harmonica, The Murlocs released their fifth studio album, Bittersweet Demons, in 2021. Showcasing how they've has matured as artists since forming in 2011, the record reflects on people who have come and gone in their lives and how fragile life is.

Despite their introspective lyrical leanings, The Murlocs are known for their ecstatic and energetic live performances where their loyal and enthusiastic fans often chant their lyrics in unison.

The Murlocs formed in 2011 when the band members were teenagers in Melbourne, living along the picturesque Victoria Surf Coast. The original lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Ambrose Kenny-Smith, lead guitarist Callum Shortal, Jamie Harmer on rhythm guitar, bassist Andrew Crossley, and Matt Blach on drums. They started out as a cover band reimagining songs by the likes of Ray Charles and Creedence Clearwater Revival and soon began writing and performing their own original material.

The Murlocs released both a debut self-titled EP as well as a second EP, Teepee, in 2012, and ended up signing to Australian indie label Flightless Records. The band soon weathered some lineup changes, with Cook Craig replacing Crossley on bass.

While many members of The Murlocs also play in other Flightless Records bands, including King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Craig, in an interview with SPIN magazine, says that what differentiates The Murlocs is that they're "more of a classic band, where everyone gets in a room and jams. That's most of the time how anything happens, whereas in Gizz, different people write songs, but it's done a bit more fragmented."

Despite being in other prolific bands and taking part in the annual Gizzfest tour with King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, The Murlocs have released several albums, including their fifth full-length, Bittersweet Demons, in June 2021, featuring the popular single "Francesca." The experimental album saw them exploring '80s pop music in their own unique way. They released their ambitious sixth studio album, Rapscallion, just a year later in September 2022, which they called a "coming-of-age novel in album form."

This album contains no booklet.