We love introducing our readers to their next favourite band, and today we’re delighted to exclusively premiere the new video for ‘Panic Button’ by Los Angeles punks Mermaid Island. Taken from their forthcoming self-titled debut album, due 12 June, the track starts as a slow-burning ballad before exploding into a cathartic punk anthem packed with emotion, urgency and heart.
If you’ve already fallen for previous singles like ‘Ice Cream’, you might be surprised by the opening moments of ‘Panic Button’. The track begins as a slow-burning, folk-tinged ballad before exploding into a huge, cathartic chorus packed with the grit, urgency and emotional honesty that Mermaid Island are quickly becoming known for. Singer Alex MacDonald explains:
“On the surface, this song is about being cryogenically frozen yet still conscious. Watching your loved ones grow old, wither away, and die without being able to communicate. At its core, it’s about feeling trapped, the desperate need for connection, and the painful realization of mortality and loss.”
Mermaid Island’s self-titled debut album arrives on 12 June via No Dad Records and Anxious and Angry. Recorded largely live in just two days, it promises to tackle themes including addiction, alienation, bodily autonomy and feminine rage with the same fearless honesty found on ‘Panic Button’.
If this track really is, as Alex says, the album’s emotional centrepiece, then Mermaid Island have delivered something special. ‘Panic Button’ feels like the sound of staring directly into the abyss and screaming back. And isn’t that exactly what punk is for.
Mermaid Island are set to take the stage this summer with Dillinger Four, Off With Their Heads, and The Arrivals with more shows to be announced:
6/14 — 4th Horseman, Long Beach, CA
6/27 — Redwood, Los Angeles, CA (Gerald Shaia Memorial Show)
7/2 — Deep End, Redondo Beach, CA
7/17 — The Slipper Clutch, Los Angeles, CA (Record Release Show)
7/24 — Red Dwarf, Las Vegas, NV
7/25 — Hola Habibi, Las Vegas, NV
8/12 — Casbah, San Diego, CA+
8/13 — The Sardine, San Pedro, CA (Recess Romp)*
8/16 — Bottom Of The Hill, San Francisco, CA*^
+ with Off With Their Heads
* with Off With Their Heads and Arrivals
*^ with Off With Their Heads and Dillinger Four