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Anjimile has dropped a scathing new protest song, “Animal,” from his upcoming album, The King, out Sept. 8 via 4AD.
Written in summer 2020, “Animal” seethes with the anger, despair, and grief that fueled the mass protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd. Over the booming, unnerving strum of a blown-out acoustic guitar, Anjimile holds nothing back as the song builds to a devastating final verse: “And I heard blue lives matter/from a white liberal/Piece of shit I couldn’t stand at all/If you treat me like an animal/I’ll be an animal.”
“Animal” marks the third offering from The King, following the album’s title-track and “Father.” Anjimile has described The King as “an album of curses,” compared to his 2020 debut, Giver Taker, an “album of prayers.” While that album often featured lush, colorful arrangements filled with various instruments, The King was made almost entirely with just Anjimile’s guitar and vocals. The album was produced by Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, Kacey Musgrave), and it features some contributions from Justine Bowe, Brad Allen Williams, Sam Gendel, and Big Thief’s James Krivchenia.
In a 2020 interview with Rolling Stone, when Anjimile was promoting Giver Taker, he alluded to the direction he was headed as he started contemplating the album that would become The King. “It seems like there’s a lot of protest songs in my heart, and a lot of grief, and a lot of chromatic shit is happening for some reason,” he said at the time. “I’m thinking it’s gonna get weird. I’d like to keep expanding the definition of what my sound is.”
Anjimile has a handful of tour dates scheduled in support of The King, including sets at the Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina on Sept. 9 and POP Montreal on Sept. 28. After a run of shows in Europe in November, he’ll kick off a proper North American tour Dec. 1 at SECCA in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; the tour will wrap Dec. 13 at the Burl in Lexington, Kentucky.
