Shiv and the Carvers announce debut album Always Watching with "Screens" single
Toronto punk band Shiv and the Carvers will release their debut album, Always Watching, on 29 October via Twin Fang Records. They have shared the single "Screens" and a video directed by Sarafina Bortolon-Vettor of Bonnie Trash.
On the track Shiv Scott addresses the absurdity of having limitless information while feeling powerless over what we consume. The band say: "Modern smartphones are both a marvel and curse. We have access to so much information and power, but we're also being manipulated by them. I love my phone because it shows me pretty things and opens up my world, but I am so tired of seeing footage of war and human suffering interspersed with advertisements for plastic surgery."
The video places Shiv in a blue-lit room with a television, a baseball bat, and the instruction "DO NOT BREAK OR HIT DOOR". Bortolon-Vettor says: "Shiv is experiencing overwhelming dread, being sucked into a TV screen with no way out... the only way out is to smash the hell out of it."
Always Watching was produced by Jesse Turnbull (Netherwilds, Lia Pappas-Kemps, Tokyo Police Club), taking in some atypical instrumentation. Shiv played her grandad's fiddle on "Executionary" and trumpet on "Squealerz", while Violet de Rege-Braga of RrroachhH contributed theremin to "Screens". The album roasts tech billionaires, crooked cops, purity culture, and everyday abuses of power via their bold, joyously ramshackle style of garage-punk.
The band are touring the UK and Europe, with a stop at Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg on 17 September. Their UK run includes shows in London, Brighton, Bristol, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester, and Newcastle upon Tyne. "Screens" is out now.
Always Watching is released on 29 October via Twin Fang Records
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