WATCH: The Armoires Share Video for “Here Comes The Song”

New album, Octoberland, out this fall

July 11, 2024July 11, 2024 Ron Hart 0 Comments 2024, Big Stir Records, Christina Bulbenko, Here Comes The Song, Octoberland, Rex Broome, The Armoires

Burbank, CA-based indie rockers The Armoires are back with a new single, “Here Comes The Song,” the third track to be released from the band’s highly anticipated fourth album, Octoberland, out this fall.

“It’s a Faustian story where the devil doesn’t show up,” co-leader Rex Broome says of the lyrics to this beautful number that floats somewhere in between Pink Floyd at its prettiest and Out of Time-era R.E.M., sonically speaking. “Like many other songwriters, we often feel like we don’t so much create the songs as connect with them, plucking them from some realm where they already exist, waiting to be sung. And we all know of songs that are iconic hits, but their meanings are widely misunderstood. The spark for this story was: What if a songwriter connects with a song that has acompletely different agenda than the writer’s intent – possibly even a sinister purpose, but definitely an ineffable one? What happens when that song gets free in the world, beyond the writer’s control, reaching people in ways they couldn’t have imagined and might not want? What kind of effect might that have on a creative soul?”

“It’s a big idea for pop song that’s barely three and a half minutes long, so we pulled out all the stops to make it as cinematic as we could,” says co-leader Christina Bulbenko. “Rex and I sing it as a kind of empathetic Greek chorus like we often do, and the band gives it a great, dynamic reading. But it’s the strings that give it that dramatic rise and fall we were looking for.”

The Armoires Octoberland, Big Stir Records 2024

Supplementing the single, which features string arrangements by Larysa Bulbenko (who also happens to be Christina’s daughter) and a lilting rhythm by bassist Clifford Ulrich and drummer John Borack, is a sweetly animated video that Rock & Roll Globe is honored to premiere today on the site.

“’Here Comes The Song’ takes the form of a short story or a fable, so the video very much reflects that: There are books everywhere, and we spend a lot of time inside the illustrated pages of the lyrics,” Bulbenko explains of the clip. “There was some serendipity involved: We were getting the band together for a press photo shoot, and we created this sort of overgrown reading room set for that, and knowing that there would be a video for this track in the offing, we shot it at the same time. The live footage really suggested a dive into the pages of the song as book, and thankfully we already had a developing aesthetic for the album art and all the singles — an Art Nouveau-inspired illustrative look devised by Ridley Broome — and that translated perfectly into the storybook pages you see in the video. And since the timeless antique visuals of the artwork had already influenced our wardrobe and set design choices, it all fits together beautifully.”

“What’s sweet to us in viewing this video is that it’s not just the ‘look’ that’s consistent, but the iconography, too,” adds Broome. “Our forthcoming album Octoberland has a lot of recurring imagery between the songs — snakes, cats, ravens and crows crop up in multiple songs — and they’ve also been featured in the artwork for the singles, as well as our prior video, for the single ‘We Absolutely Mean It.’ In this one, they’re in the illustrations for the storybook, but also in the live action footage of the band. If you look closely at the wreath over the fireplace (which, like the entire set, was handmade by the band) you can see that the mother and daughter team of Christina and Larysa (who’s also our violist) included a raven right in the middle of it. And yes, there’s a live snake featured as well: that’s Maple, my daughter’s albino corn snake. There were cats in the room, too, but unfortunately we couldn’t entice them into the shot… their presence is felt via the drawings, though!”

Watch the vid for “Here Comes The Song” below and follow Big Stir Records for further happenings in the world of The Armoires and their highly anticipated Octoberland.