HUMOUR SHARE NEW SINGLE “MEMORIAL”
DEBUT ALBUM “LEARNING GREEK”
OUT AUGUST 8TH ON SO YOUNG RECORDS
LISTEN / WATCH VIDEO HERE
Photo Credit: Rosie Sco
Glasgow’s Humour today share a further taster from their upcoming debut album, “Learning Greek”, out August 8th on So Young Records, this time in the form of “Memorial”.
Listen to “Memorial” HERE
Watch video HERE
The fizzing “Memorial”, snottily anthemic but emotionally gutting, is a perfect example of the high-wire act Humour have pulled off across the album. It finds Christodoulidis on the beach at Troy, using poet Alice Oswald’s titular reinterpretation of Homer’s Iliad to find a new context through which to understand the way death’s inevitability can sit on our chest. “Oswald describes the Iliad as a catalogue of death,” he reflects. “It’s a step by step description of all these people being slaughtered, but it’s described in an incredibly beautiful way.”
Underlining the idea that history is kept alive by connection, in Humour’s own retelling Hector and his wife Andromache wait next to buzzsaw guitars, the knowledge of what’s to come hanging heavy between them like the blow that’ll wipe the Trojan hero from the board. As drummer Ruaridh Smith and bassist Lewis Doig ratchet the pace up and up and up, Christodoulidis reshapes thousands of years of granular history into a sharp point. It’s a joyful transgression — what if the Iliad ripped? — but it’s also a telling reminder that some stories should always be malleable in our mouths.
Christoloudis had the following to say about the themes behind their new single and an undoubted album highlight:
“Memorial describes a scene from the Iliad in which Andromache must say goodbye to her husband Hector the night before he’s killed in battle. The main theme of the song is imminent disaster and trying to remain stoic in the face of it.”
The 11 songs of “Learning Greek” combine lithe riffs, throat-stripping intensity and a crushing take on the fabled loud/quiet dynamic, with the record following two critically-acclaimed EPs from the band – 2022’s “Pure Misery” and 2023’s “A Small Crowd Gathered To Watch Me”. With last year largely set aside to write new material, the band returned this Spring with “Neighbours”, a heavy, decisively robust comeback from the five-piece and one that saw Humour added to the BBC 6 Music playlist for the first time, and its sprightly, jagged follow-up “Plagiarist” last month.
Produced by Idlewild’s Rod Jones at his Post Electric studio in Edinburgh, “Learning Greek” will be available on CD, standard LP, a Dinked edition LP with exclusive colour and sleeve design, and a Rough Trade exclusive edition LP paired to a zine with lyrics and illustrations from Andreas.
Pre-order HERE
With live dates across the Spring and Summer, the band have also recently announced their most extensive UK headline tour yet for November in support of the record.
Humour live:
25/05 A Stone’s Throw Festival, Newcastle
27/05 Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh
28/05 The Ferret, Preston
29/05 Elephant’s Head, London
31/05 Supersonic Block Party, Paris
09/07-11/07 2000 Trees Festival, Cheltenham
02/08 – Multitude Festival, Milton Keynes
20/11 – Oporto, Leeds
22/11 – Yes (Basement), Manchester
23/11 – Bodega, Nottingham
25/11 – Dead Wax, Birmingham
27/11 – The Crauford Arms, Milton Keynes
28/11 – The Lexington, London
29/11 – Bear Cave, Bournemouth
30/11 – Cavern Club, Exeter
02/12 – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
03/12 – Exchange, Bristol
04/12 – District, Liverpool
05/12 – Zerox, Newcastle
06/12 – King Tut’s, Glasgow
Humour
Learning Greek
Out August 8th on So Young Records
Neighbours
Memorial
Plagiarist
Learning Greek
Dirty Bread
Die Rich
I Knew We Would Talk
Aphid
I Only Have Eyes
In The Paddies
It Happened In The Sun
Humour are:
Ruairidh Smith – Drums
Lewis Doig – Bass
Ross Patrizio – Guitar
Jack Lyall – Guitar
Andreas Christodoulidis – Vocals
Previous praise for Humour:
“Bracing, bizarre avant-rock… Humour combine melancholic, open-hearted instrumentation with Andreas Christodoulidis’ utterly alien vocal performances, replete with violent pitch changes and lurching dynamics.”
Loud & Quiet
“Superbly exciting… a honed and thrilling live act…”
NME
“A seethingly intelligent slice of guitar music.”
CLASH
“Far from the despair of its title, ‘Pure Misery’ has lots in it to love”
DIY
“Pack a powerful, poignant punch.”
DORK