Following the announcement of details for their forthcoming release Dreamless, out October 21st via Zoo Music, CROCODILES have released their video for the single “Telepathic Lover” and have also revealed new tour dates.  The video was Directed by Andrés Kenguan and produced by Blas Cernicchiaro.

As with the album, the video was recorded in Mexico City. Director Andrés Kenugan comments: “The concept of the video comes from the lyrics to the song. We wanted to recreate those feelings that come to mind when you find someone else – in this case this person has these feelings when he is watching a video of Crocodiles… We wanted to show in this from the point of view of the shadows; they are talking.”

Comprised of best friends Brandon Welchez and Charles Rowell, Crocodiles have earned their place as one of the United States’ most engaging, hardworking and consistent rock and roll bands of recent years. Dreamless is the pair’s sixth LP.

Whereas Crocodiles’ first two albums made their home amongst a stew of fuzzed-out psychedelia, and the following three albums explored Welchez and Rowell’s penchant for placing pop sensibilities against whirring guitars and barbed production, Dreamless sees the duo endeavoring on an artistic departure that positions their guitars in the backseat in favor of a more spacious, synthesizer and piano driven sound.

“We’ve always been a guitar band and I think we just wanted to challenge ourselves and our aesthetic,” says Welchez. “It didn’t start as a conscious decision but within the first week Charlie’s mantra became ‘fuck guitars’. Only one song has zero guitar but in general we tried to find alternatives to fill that space.”

The title of the album works on both a literal and metaphorical level: “I suffered insomnia throughout the whole session. I was literally dreamless,” explains Welchez. “The past two years had been fraught with difficulty for us – relationship troubles, career woes, financial catastrophe, health issues,” he continues. “In that pessimistic mindset it was easy to feel as if the dream was over.”

The pair recorded the 10-track Dreamless in Mexico City over the course of 6 weeks. Having become something of a spiritual (and in the case of Welchez, literal) home to the duo, choosing D.F. as the location for recording allowed them to again hook-up with friend and occasional bandmate Martin Thulin (also a member of post punks Exploded View). Between them, the trio shared instrument duties, with Welchez and Rowell handling the lion’s share of guitar and bass, Thulin and Welchez the live drum work, and Thulin focusing largely on keys.

“And you’ll burn and weep and suffer,” says the chilling spoken-word sample that opens Dreamless. “The sample is from a Christian preacher that we found over 15 years ago and used on the first 7” we ever did together when we were still teenagers” explains Brandon Welchez. “Back then we used it with a sense of humor, laughing at the whole ridiculous guilt trip vibe. But hearing it again in our apartment in Mexico City, within the context of the words we were singing, it took on a different air. It lost the humorous aspect and just seemed like a commentary on life.”

Crocodiles live dates:

October
01 Le Nef, Angoulême FR
03 Le Bouffon, Geneva CH
04 Astoria, Turin IT
05 Mattatoio, Capri
06 Freak Out, Bologna IT
07 Le Volume, Nice FR
08 Le Baraka, Clermont Ferrand FR
09 Mecanique-ondulatoire, Paris FR
11 Headrow House, Leeds UK
13 Broadcast, Glasgow UK
14 Night and Day Cafe, Manchester UK
15 Hackney Wonderland, London UK
17 Bitterzoet, Amsterdam NL
19 Chelsea, Vienna AT
22 Gozsdu Manó Klub, Budapest HU

Dreamless track list:

01. Telepathic Lover
02. Maximum Penetration
03. Welcome To Hell
04. I’m Sick
05. Go Now
06. Alita
07. Jumping On Angels
08. Time To Kill
09. Jailbird
10. Not Even In Your Dreams