Quitter

Scottish alt singer-songwriter Quitter (aka Kenny Bates) is pleased to reveal the video for his new single ‘Sword Fights’ which is released on 20th September 2023 via all good streaming platforms.

The track is latest to be taken from his new album Monument Road, which will be released on 22nd September 2023 via independent labels Heavenly Creature and Gold Mold Records, and is available to preorder now.

Commenting on the new track, which features a collaboration with one of his favourite songwriters, Lukas Clasen aka Sulka (Lost Map Records), Bates says: "I experimented a lot with collaboration over the lockdown years and it helped me understand its magic - turning seemingly run-of-the-mill musical ideas into songs that broke new ground, or allowing a song's direction to be reimagined. The recording of 'Sword Fights' got off to a strong start but stalled in finding its direction. Lukas' gift for penning a left-field but poppy song is complemented by his gifts for production and instrumentation. He sprinkled a few elements in and gave the recording process a fresh lease of life.”

‘Sword Fights’ is the final single to be taken from the album following on from lead single ‘Penny Drop’ and follow up ‘Hey, Useless’ which were released earlier this year via all good streaming services, picking up support from regional tastemakers The Scot Magazine, Ravechild, podcart, Song By Toad and more.

The album will be released on a run of 200 black vinyl, including a printed card inner sleeve with lyrics and photographs. Pre-ordered vinyl comes with exclusive stickers and an exclusive hand-numbered, 16 page, A5 full-colour zine featuring album liner notes, collage, lyrics, poetry, photographs, and stream of consciousness writings.

Based between Stirling and Glasgow, Bates has also previously toured France, Germany and the UK with Quitter and will be playing a handful of select Scottish live dates over the summer, including a special album launch show at Glad Cafe in Glasgow on 22nd September 2023, with a Sofar Sounds session and Assai Records instore appearances also lined up.

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Setting his confessional storytelling within a noisy, progressive-yet-emotive musical landscape, Bates’ music is heavily flavoured by ‘90s US indie, emo, noise rock and lo-fi recording practices in a battle of what he calls “yuck vs yum”—a quick listen will yield distinct influence from the likes of American Football, Pavement, Slint, David Pajo, Conor Oberst, and Songs: Ohia, amongst others.

Recorded at Bannockburn House in Stirling by Stevie Cossar and in his parent’s house Bates, Monument Road was mixed by Stevie Cossar, mastered by Robin Sutherland (Esko Mastering) and follows on from Bates’ 2021 EP Good Things Come To You, 2018 self-titled album Quitter, and 2016 debut EP Commuter Town, which drew underground acclaim for their notable quality.

“A road is a pretty tried-and-tested allegory for life,” says Bates of the new album, “and for me, when I entered my thirties I started feeling the accumulation of memories and time more acutely, and how your life’s great conversations / nights / mornings / mistakes / flukes / discoveries / people / places are what gives you that sense of time and brings you to this point exactly.”

“I feel like we build monuments to these things along the road of life, and sort of walk up and down in their shadow. I’ve tried to represent the monuments I’ve built, here in this set of songs—some standing tall, others long half-built, many of them regularly revisited. All lovingly set in line either side of this road.”

Over the course of Monument Road, some songs lean affectionately on lo-fi sensibilities—carefully layered drum machines, percussion mic’d in hallways, vocals and guitars driven through 4-track cassette machines. These tracks sit alongside live band recordings made in a half-burnt-down old manor house in Stirling, soaking up the atmosphere in the performances. The thread that ties them all together is one of tactile, real sounds, made by real people in real rooms, and left largely unadulterated, the hope being that the listener feels present in the songs with Bates.

Having an affinity with the format that stretches back to taping songs off the radio and recording early bands on a ghetto blaster, 4-track cassette recordings have featured across virtually all Quitter (aka Kenny Bates)'s musical output.