Snail to Release New Single “Red Tent” May 11
When Snail were in the studio in Feb., they said they were working on an upcoming single, so I’m going to make two rash assumptions right now. First, I’m assuming that the forthcoming “Red Tent,” to be released May 11 in continued association with Argonauta Records, is that single. Second, I’m assuming there is not an album immediately to follow. Had they said they were working on a record in that Facebook post, I’d go with that.
As regards new music from the long-running-even-if-you-just-count-from-the-reunion West Coasters, however, I’m happy to take what I can get. “Red Tent,” which lyrically retells the story of The Thing from an apparently more thingly point of view (I’ve never seen the movie, sorry; yes, I can hear a whole subset of dudes my age and older groaning right now), is the first new Snail studio outing since 2021’s psych-leaning Fractal Altar (review here), and whatever it leads to or doesn’t, it’s welcome by me. Of course, one can’t forget they released Live at The Obelisk All-Dayer in 2024 as well, recorded in NYC in 2016 at the Saint Vitus Bar. It was quite a day.
The following came through in a Bandcamp email. Direct contact is the future. Also the past. Heads up on that, I guess. I’ll probably start a Substack in about eight years after the trend dies:
New Snail single “Red Tent” arrives May 11 via Argonauta Records
We’re pleased to announce that our new single, “Red Tent,” will be released on Monday, May 11 through Argonauta Records.
Inspired by John Carpenter’s 1982 film The Thing, “Red Tent” is written from the perspective of the creature — awakening, waiting, and returning through thaw, memory, and infection. The title refers to an imagined side-story: a red tent near the buried spacecraft, where an investigator encounters something ancient and irreversible.
Lyrically, the song moves through frozen desolation, body horror, and ecological dread, tracing the voice of an entity released from ice into a warming world.
“Red Tent” will be available here on Bandcamp, where direct support means the most to us.
More soon.
— Snail
Snail is:
Matt Lynch (Bass/Vocals)
Marty Dodson (Drums)
Mark Johnson (Lead Vocals/Guitar)
www.snailhq.com
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www.argonautarecords.com/shop
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Thanks for the writeup JJ! this tune was a little bit of a return to Terminus-era classic metal, we’re stoked to get it out. Next single will likely be Perilous Dandelion which was actually part of the Terminus sessions, we just never completed it.
cheers bud!