Gilla Band have officially announced their upcoming album ‘Pugnello’ and released a fierce new single titled ‘Placeholder’. You can listen to it below.
The acclaimed Dublin outfit, previously known as Girl Band, have not put out a full length studio album since releasing ‘Most Normal’ in 2022. Now, the group has returned with details of what will be their fourth record.
‘Pugnello’ is scheduled for release on September 25 through Rough Trade Records. The album was produced by Gilla Band and recorded and mixed by bassist Daniel Fox. Fans can pre order it here. The record features the recently released single ‘Giraffe’, which marked the band's first new music in four years, along with the newly unveiled ‘Placeholder’.
Built around pounding electronic textures and abrasive production, ‘Placeholder’ sees vocalist Dara Kiely transform anxious childhood memories and intrusive thoughts into a dark and unsettling sonic landscape.
Listen to the new song below:
Speaking about ‘Placeholder’, Kiely explained: “In this track I try to analyse my mental quirks by exploring my comfort distractions. Reverting back to childhood nostalgia as an escape. The memories seeping into my day to day adult life.
“Representing personal mental health behaviours via outdated pop culture such as the anxious tension set by Davina McCall’s silence when announcing a Big Brother eviction, or the fight or flight that Harold Lloyd surely experienced when holding on to a clock for dear life, and all for our entertainment.
“I mention Power Rangers at the end of this. It was another comfort vice. They were a huge thing for me as a child. I remember I was at some sort of Christian summer camp when I was about six and was asked what I want to be when I grow up. I said ‘a Power Ranger’. I was laughed at and was told the shocking truth that they didn’t exist and it is not a profession worth pursuing. I’ve never forgiven them for that.”
Kiely also highlighted one particular lyric from the track: “‘I’m injecting a lethal dose of nothing. I’m blaring a dangerous amount of Coldplay’… True story.”
Alongside the album announcement, Gilla Band confirmed two intimate UK performances this October. The band will play Manchester’s White Hotel on October 7 before the venue closes in January, followed by a performance at London’s ICA on October 8, where they will play in the round. These dates are in addition to their previously announced European and United States tour. The full schedule can be found here, while tickets are available here.
Through ‘Holding Hands With Jamie’ in 2015, ‘The Talkies’ in 2019, and ‘Most Normal’ in 2022, Gilla Band have earned a reputation as one of the most distinctive guitar bands of their era. Their sound blends post punk, noise rock, and industrial influences into something unmistakably original.
Last year, guitarist Alan Duggan Borges introduced a new project called The Null Club, releasing a debut EP that featured collaborations with members of The Horrors and Mandy, Indiana.
