Following the announcement of their new album ‘AMAMA’ last month, Crumb shares another taste of the LP with the single “The Bug.”
Speaking about the single, Crumb’s Lila Ramani shares, “‘The Bug’ is a song that has existed in our universe since early Crumb days, pre-‘Jinx’ era. The origins go back to a motel in Nebraska on one of our earliest tours when I woke up with a bunch of bed bug bites. Wired and unable to sleep, I wandered around the motel singing what would become the outro to the song. Years later when we were finally recording it, it took on a more tender meaning…the bug doesn’t have to be an insect – the bug can be a friend, a lover, or that nagging feeling that finds you late at night.”
‘AMAMA’ is Crumb’s most carefree and heartfelt project yet — a blend of poetic abstraction, introspective honesty, and tasteful sonic experimentation. The album finds Crumb in their most animated and dynamic form, a reality voiced by their use of glitchy pitch-shifted vocals, cell phone recordings, nautical blips, sax mouthpiece solos, blasted drum samples, and piano strings dampened with Silly Putty.
Releasing on May 17th via Crumb Records, the album features the title track “AMAMA,” a vibrant tribute to singer Lila Ramani’s Malaysian-Indian grandmother with snippets of her speaking Malayali can be heard within the song. This homage is supported further by its accompanying music video directed by long-time collaborator Abraham El-Makawy. The visual follows the track’s intimate theme, showcasing an animated compilation of Lila’s archival home footage intertwined amongst artwork sourced by 702 fan submissions, presenting a moving community-sourced mosaic of nostalgia.
Blending psychedelia, pop, jazz, and rock, ‘AMAMA’ solidifies Crumb’s unique musical identity. Produced in Los Angeles with Johnscott Sanford and Jonathan Rado, the album is an illuminating reflection on finding stability, connection, and clarity amid a nomadic lifestyle.
In 2023, Crumb released their single “Le Temple Volant” with Melody’s Echo Chamber, which received acclaim from Pitchfork, The FADER, Stereogum, and more. ‘AMAMA’ follows a cohesive line back through breakout EPs self-titled ‘Crumb’ and ‘Locket,’ 2019’s ‘Jinx’, and 2021’s ‘Ice Melt’, which Rolling Stone called “a captivating trek to the metaphysical and back down to Earth.”
In addition to their album, the New York City-based band is gearing up for a North American tour, scheduled to visit 30 cities across the country in the middle of the year. With an average monthly stream of over 2 million, their audience extends globally, with Indonesia 🇮🇩 and Thailand 🇹🇭 amongst their top 20 markets globally.
‘AMAMA’ Tracklist:
- From Outside A Window Sill
- Side By Side
- The Bug
- AMAMA
- Genie
- Crushxd
- Nightly News
- (Alone In) Brussels
- Sleep Talk
- Dust Bunny
- Swarmed
- XXX