The Green Child, the group formed by Total Control‘s Mikey Young and onetime Grass Widow guitarist/singer Raven Mahon, have announced their third album, Look Familiar, which will be out November 15 via Upset the Rhythm. Since releasing 2020’s Shimmering Bassett, The Green Child are now a full band with the addition of drummer Shaun Gionis (of Boomgates) and keyboardist Alex Macfarlane.
“For this record, half the musical ideas stemmed from Raven, half from myself,” says Young. “I felt like we discussed things more and fleshed out ideas together and brought in Alex and Shaun for their input all the time. I see it as a step forward in many ways but at times, it felt like an entirely new thing. It’s inspiring to make music with others, to find a new combination of ingredients to make music feel fresh.”
Raven says that lyrically the album was inspired by “reality-shifting world events, adding, “the subject matter just makes its way in when it’s what I’m thinking about most the time. There are a couple of homages to family members too. ‘The Lawn’ is about my grandmother and the area where she lived in the desert that was a short-lived socialist commune.”
The first single from the album is “Wow Factor,” which takes the band’s pastoral, synthy psychedelia into more propulsive synthpop territory with the rest of the band. “It is about a few things,” Raven says. “For one, the double standards of the international justice system, and also about caring for and protecting those that are close to you.” You can watch the video below.
LOOK FAMILIAR:
1. Wow Factor
2. The Lawn
3. Step Over Water
4. Easy Window
5. A Long Beautiful Flowing Cape
6. Year of the Books
7. Look Familiar
8. Private Laugh
9. Feet Are Rebels
10. Arrows and Microtones