FM4 Soundpark is a web platform, community, and radio show for and with Austrian musicians. In an ongoing collaboration, FM4’s team recommends particular artists of the moment to amplify. Today, the honor goes to: My Ugly Clementine‘s new album: “Apply Autonomy”.
Darker Than Ever
With My Ugly Clementine’s third album, “Apply Autonomy,” the trio strikes a darker note—and fully embraces its grunge phase.
“I’ve long wanted to go rougher — overall,” says Sophie Lindinger of My Ugly Clementine’s new album, “Apply Autonomy,” which shatters the sunny indie-rock sound the band was known for.
The opener, “Don’t Mess With Me,” stings and surprises from the first bars, its deep bassline recalling Beck’s “Loser.” Where the last album leaned skate-punk, this one lands in grunge territory — strained relationships once again supply the material, but now ground through the mill more forcefully. The lyrics demand hardness, and this time the sound matches the themes with real weight; “The Pretender” even evokes King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s stoner-rock era, something the band laughed about in the interview.
Over the years, the trio has released two albums, won awards, toured — and fiercely guarded their musical autonomy throughout, involving only Lindinger’s longtime collaborator Marco Kleebauer as producer. “Being able to keep it all in-house is one of the biggest markers of independence,” Lindinger says. “It’s pure Clementine essence.”
That autonomy still rests on other people, though — friendships are often the foundation of self-empowerment. The band dedicated “Unlawfully Wedded,” the album’s most touching song, to platonic love: “Which kinds of love carry which kind of value — that flowed into the song,” says Nasti Ronck. The theme inspired the song’s music video, a touching “lawless mass wedding” that bandmate Mira Lu Kovacs called “wholesome to see.”
Translated and abridged by Arianna Alfreds from the German original by René Froschmayer.