NORMANDIE announce new album ‘Dopamine’ and share new single ‘Flowers For The Grave’
We love a good concept album and Stockholm trio, Normandie, have announced their new album, ‘Dopamine’ (set for release on February 9th 2024 on Easy Life Records) is packed full of story-arcs and lore as they imagine what a fictional, hellish future might look like. The album finds the band asking two unsettling questions: what if we pushed our brains and bodies far beyond their limits? And what if we already are?
Philip, Håkan (Almbladh – guitar) and Anton (Franzon – drums) talk about the themes of the record:
“The whole album is about the chase for different highs and natural chemicals: oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, adrenaline…” starts Philip.
“What if dopamine had to be clinically provided because we’ve burned through our receptors?”
“Making this album futuristic and dystopian came very naturally when we started discussing the current state of the world. We’re all on overdrive. We’re upping the stakes all the time, and everybody has a higher tolerance now for stress in a way that nobody saw coming,” he explains.
“Back in the old days you were sowing potatoes and that was your one goal for the day – we were hunter-gatherers and we were just there to provide for our families. Today, we have so many things going on. We’re taught to chase our dreams, but chasing something in the future means you might miss the moment.”
In this future, swathes of society have burned out their neurotransmitters and have to take their dopamine in the same way we do today with caffeine, like that hit of morning coffee that makes you feel human again. But this time, dopamine isn’t used as a stimulant. It’s just what we take to get through the day.
What makes ‘Dopamine’ feel even more vital is that it’s a futuristic, dynamic rock album that even with everything *gestures wildly* happening within, is clearly made by actual people, with all of their humanity and contradictions laid bare.
Welcome to the Dopamine Clinic. ☺
To mark the announcement, the band have released a brand new single, ‘Flowers For The Grave’, in-keeping with the band’s ‘Dopamine Clinic’, which sees new songs “prescribed” on the first of every month leading up to album release. The song once again demonstrates the band’s impeccable ability to bring pop sensibilities into rock as they seamlessly glide through catchy hooked filled verses and choruses while electronic elements, guitars and drums intertwine to produce a sound that will appeal to fans across the musical spectrum.
speaking on the song frontman Philip Strand says, “Flowers For The Grave is a song about not saving the best for last. Live your life on the daily and appreciate things taking their time! We’re taught to chase our dreams, but chasing something in the future means you might miss the moment.”
Check out the video here:
‘Dopamine’
TRACKLISTING
1. Overdrive
2. Serotonin
3. Flowers In The Grave
5. Ritual
6. Butterflies
7. Colorblind
8. Hourglass (feat. Dani Winter-Bates of Bury Tomorrow)
9. Sorry
10. All In My Head
11. Glue
Also announced today is the band’s Dopamine headline tour of Europe, including two UK dates in Manchester and London next March. Fans who pre-order the album this weekend can gain early access to tickets, ahead of their general on-sale on Wednesday (Sep 6th) morning.
THE DOPAMINE TOUR: EUROPE
FEBRUARY
10: PARIS La Maroquinerie
11: FRANKFURT Batschkapp
13: COLOGNE Die Kantine
14: HAARLEM Patronaat
15: HAMBURG Uebel & Gefährlich
16: COPENHAGEN Pumpehuset
MARCH
13: MANCHESTER Academy 2
14: LONDON Electric Ballroom
16: MUNICH Technikum
17: VIENNA Flex Café
18: BUDAPEST Durer Kert
20: PRAGUE Meetfactory
21: BERLIN Hole44
22: WARSAW Proxima
