American Wrestlers is back with a new single today, announcing another album coming out later this year. “Ignoramus” is a snidely buoyant track, with effervescent melodies, propulsive guitar strums, and soundbites of seagulls cawing in the distance.
This is Gary McClure’s third album under the name American Wrestlers – the UK native started posting songs on Bandcamp under this moniker after his previous band, Working For A Nuclear Free City, disbanded. It was met with considerable favor from the critics and listeners alike: his first eight-song lo-fi album landed McClure as a Band To Watch for Stereogum as well as one of the Best New Bands of 2015 for the site. Following his debut, he released another acclaimed record, Goodbye Terrible Youth.
And “Ignoramus” is a promising first single that hints to the teeming success of American Wrestlers’ forthcoming work. About it, McClure told Stereogum:
I worry sometimes that when I write songs that are sung from a different character’s viewpoint, that people will think that I’m a bigger arsehole than I actually am. They’ll take this whining idiocy at face value. Well, I don’t mean any of this. I mean the opposite of this, kinda. It was going to be called “The Lonesome Death Of The Alt-Right.” It was going to be called that and be a weird little country song with hokey lo-fi strings that bent into black memories. Then I felt a bit childish about it and second guessed it all and just decided to call it “Ignoramus” instead. Same thing. Same difference. Maybe I should have kept the title. I’m still unsure.
The words are from the perspective of someone who has everything and makes out like they have nothing. The seagulls were surprisingly intuitive. Just after I recorded the guitars for the drop at the end I immediately thought of the sound of birds and the open air. I don’t know why. I still have no idea what the hell I’m doing.
These are easily my best batch of songs. I wrote and recorded the death out of them in St. Louis and sent them over to my friend Philip Kay for further production and instrumentation. Everything he touches turns to pure gold. They could be an album or they could be a bunch of singles. Whatever the kids want.
You can listen to “Ignoramus” below.
