IRONTOM Releases “Con Artist”
Today, California’s IRONTOM breaks free from all structure with “Con Artist” – the first single and video of their upcoming album set for release later this year. Skewing the narrative of everyday life and imbuing chaos into normalcy, the band seeks to expand upon the notion of what is considered art with their confrontational experimentation and bold sonic exploration. With lyrics that present themselves as a blurry stream of consciousness, frantic and fleeting trails that all run together, “Con Artist” is a self-aware nihilistic fantasy.
IRONTOM is here to be critical of the whole world and everything wrong with it, while simultaneously acknowledging that that includes them. They want to watch the world burn while they pee on the fire. Truths are stretched and lies exist to be satirized in their musical realm. Like a car crash, whether amazed or appalled, no one can look away from the psychedelic world IRONTOM leads listeners through in their latest journey “Con Artist.”
Revealing more about the track, while simultaneously revealing nothing at all, lead singer Harry Hayes said, “We wrote this song when we were on an 80-day starvation retreat where we ate nothing but fizzy water and Jif creamy smooth peanut butter. The retreat had this elegant smoking lounge where a man of the height of 7’2 would come in and yell out ‘mother figure!’ and ‘student body!’ We took these as the beginning lyrics. This gentle giant told us about his days of robbing the homeless in Guadalajara. He would say, ‘Don’t rob the people, rob the people who ROB the people.’”
The “Con Artist” official video is an unsettling contemporary surrealist cut by Amalia Irons, flashing from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery with the Grimm Reaper to Bodega Bay where Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds was filmed. Whether it’s all a frenetic dream, or a pool party where the band is fully clothed, IRONTOM sends subliminal messages skittering across your eardrums and your eyeballs.
Earlier this year, IRONTOM’s body doubles lent their talents to DREAMERS’ track “Don’t Go Dark.” Over the next few months, the band will continue to peel back the layers of their upcoming full-length album, leaving fans guessing their next move at every step along the way.
Featured Image by Amalia Irons