Get ready to submerge yourself into darkness with the new The Wants song. Titled Data Tumor, this is the third single off of the trio’s upcoming sophomore album, Bastard, set for release on June 13th. In the meantime, this band based in New York City is creating momentum and giving us a taste of what’s about to come: a cynical, sardonic tone, strong rock influences and guitar riffs, and a commentary (not necessarily critical) on today’s world.
Speaking on their new single, the frontman of the band, Velding-VanDam, explains: “Data Tumor inhabits the psychological push and pull of trying to assert individuality in a world intent on commodifying and distorting it. The faceless collective of information and stimuli incentivizes the surrender of personal agency. Choices have to be made or they are made for you.”
This interest in today’s social disconnection and alienation, a phenomenon heavily caused by social media, stems from the singer’s own experience as a midwesterner living in NYC. “Many songs on Bastard embody a character or voice that is meant to observe and reflect an experience, but not necessarily make a judgement about it,” the band notes. “The resulting tone oscillates between earnest and acerbic, not quite serious but not joking, either.”
There is also personal tragedy piercing through the eleven songs that make up The Wants’ second album: Velding-VanDam’s father’s death. “Bastard, both as an album and an experience, is an emotional purge — a meditation on isolation and loss. The story of my father’s life and death loomed large as a backdrop of the writing process. I explored the darkest periods of my life, and the reality that we can all spiral into our own personal voids.”
With just a month before the LP’s release, The Wants are getting ready to tour Europe and the UK in the fall, with eighteen different dates in cities like Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris, Bucharest, London, Glasgow, or Manchester, among others. So stay tuned for more news!