The Armoires Go ‘Full-On Witch Mode’
Celebrated family band rings in Halloween early with new single; compilation LP
A year after achieving critical acclaim with their album Octoberland, The Armoires are back with a Halloween-themed single that finds the band in “Full-On Witch Mode.”
The song is the lead single off Big Stir Records’ brand new Halloween compilation Chilling, Thrilling Hooks and Haunted Harmonies, coming out tomorrow.
Curated by the Armoires’ co-leaders and Big Stir label heads Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko, the new collection features contributions from such Big Stir superstars as Librarians With Hickeys, sparkle*jets u.k., The Corner Laughers, Hungrytown, The Spongetones, Shplang, Splitsville, Graham Parker, The Jack Rubies, Blake Jones & The Trike Shop, The Gold Needles, Rick Hromdaka (of Maple Mars), Crossword Smiles, Steve Stoeckel, Richard Öhrn (of In Deed), Dolph Chaney, The Speed of Sound, Lady Darkevyl feat. Chris Church and The Incurables. Also on hand is Big Stir’s latest signing, psychedelic legends The Strawberry Alarm Clock, not to mention the Big Stir supergroup The Pepper’s Ghost Players.
What’s more are the “20 Chilling, Thrilling Tales” crafted by the Big Stir crew to set the macabre mood. It’s a truly unique experience you’ll be revisiting for many holidays to come.
However, now’s your chance to sink your wax teeth into Chilling, Thrilling Hooks and Haunted Harmonies a little early with the premiere of the video for The Armoires’ “Full-On Witch Mode” today on the site.
“In planning the video for ‘Full-On Witch Mode,’ we wanted to embody the spirit of the song, which is in a way the core spirit of The Armoires and our sound — warm and welcoming but a little bit eerie and unsettling at the same time,” the group said in a collective statement. “Band leaders Christina Bulbenko and Rex Broome were both part of the main team assembling the whole Big Stir Records Halloween album Chilling, Thrilling Hooks and Haunted Harmonies for which the song was recorded, and the vibe there was a throwback to the benign scares of the late ’60s and early ’70s — think Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion and the creepy ‘scare yourself at home’ LPs for kids in that era. The song is a bit more serious than that, so we struck a middle ground. The studio footage of the band comes across as a slightly haunted version of a vintage variety show performance, and the cutaway footage of the faces and instruments were loosely inspired by Madame Leota’s seance room. Together, they present a sort of timeless aesthetic that we believe is perfectly suited to the track. The cinematography is by Michael Bulbenko and the ghostly effects were crafted by Michael Simmons (who also produced the track and co-produced the full Chilling, Thrilling collection with Rex and Christina). Miranda Broome sits in as the substitute bassist for this video, meaning that both sides of the stage are occupied by parent-child teams: Broomes on the right, and Bulbenkos (Christina and her daughter Larysa, full-time violist in the band) on the left. That’s a vintage Omnichord that Christina’s playing, making for an almost certainly completely unique combination of instruments on display… just quirky enough to add a little mystique to this Halloween outing for The Armoires.”
For the band, which also includes bassist Clifford Ulrich and drummer John M. Borack, they feel strongly that the single — with its Fleetwood Mac meets The Slits vibe — stands tall on its own as much as it gels with the whole ensemble of acts included on the double LP.
“We would have created this song even if it hadn’t been for Chilling, Thrilling Hooks and Haunted Harmonies,” says the band. “The writing on our last album kept pushing closer and closer to that eldritch borderline, and we began to joke that the only thing left was to go ‘full-on witch mode.’ So we opened up that grimoire and leaned into the lexicon of alchemy and animism. But like a lot of our songs, it’s about looking beyond yourself and connecting with something bigger — the natural world, other human beings, just being thoughtful rather than self-involved. That fits the community vibe of the Big Stir Halloween compilation, too… all the artists on it did such amazing work celebrating a holiday that we love for its focus on self-expression. It’s dazzlingly diverse but all connected, and we’re thrilled to be part of it.”
Chilling, Thrilling Hooks and Haunted Harmonies: The Big Stir Records Halloween Grimoire is best experienced in its retro-styled double LP edition, pressed on Eerie Green Vinyl with a gatefold that opens into a fully playable board game starring the 21 artists (and many more monsters, spirits and ghouls) featured on the album.
It’ll also be out on CD and streaming as well, giving you the opportunity to get your Halloween party started early.
VIDEO: The Armoires “Full-On Witch Mode”
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