The Amazons on their new album and why ‘fiction’ could be “one of the defining words of the 21st century”

nme.com:

The Amazons have announced their fourth album ‘21st Century Fiction’ with new single ‘Pitch Black’. Check it out below along with our interview with frontman Matt Thomson telling us about confronting personal truths head-on, and getting in the studio with Royal Blood.The band have today shared the album’s second single, in the form of blues-rock scorcher ‘Pitch Black’, following on from the eerie launch single ‘Living A Lie’ back in September, seeing in a new era for the Reading rock trio after their 2022 Top Five record ‘How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me?’.“‘Living A Lie’ was really the turning point for us,” Thomson told NME. “The song that came out of that riff really correlated in an intimate and succinct way with how I was actually feeling at the time.

The music that we were [initially] making didn’t feel like an appropriate vehicle for me to express myself. ‘Living A Lie’ helped us get back into focus on who we are as a band, and what we have to say to the world.”Opening up about ‘Pitch Black’, Thomson told NME that the song “inhabits the dark little caves” that young men often box themselves into. “Speaking from the stiff male experience, what we try and strive for in strength can turn into pride – we can be our own worst enemy sometimes. ‘Pitch Black’ inhabits a space that we can fall into, and it’s really hard to get out.“We dig ourselves a hole, and then we break the ladder.

Isn’t it funny that when we’re in our darkest place, it’s the least likely moment that we would reach out to someone? It’s about the paradox of that.”Check out our full interview below, where Thomson goes deep on the resonance of the word ‘fiction’, the challenges of approaching 30, and Royal Blood’s role in their new album.NME: Hello.