Like the rest of us, the members of Birmingham, Alabama-based indie rock band People Years just tried to survive 2020, and this year seems like more of the same with the threat of the delta variant of the COVID virus hanging over us all.

But despite the daily doom-scroll news cycle, whether about the pandemic or socio-political turmoil, People Years put in the hard work to make something good out of bad times.

People Years’ upcoming album, XIV, will be available November 5th on vinyl, CD, and digital/streaming platforms via Cornelius Chapel Records.

Firmly in the camp of angular and oddball indie rock, People Years are influenced by illustrious outfits like Luna, Pavement, Pink Floyd, and LCD Soundsystem, but of course sound nothing like them.

Anchored by the songwriting and production of Chris Rowell, the band blows out vibrant tracks could play at both the sleaziest of dives and the snootiest of invitation-only parties. Rowell’s space-aimed guitar and Tony Oliver’s soaring keyboard fortress converse in argumentative tones and easy asides, while Greg Slamen’s bass rips through the atmosphere with Wes McDonald’s cracked groove in tow.

Big Takeover is pleased to host the premiere of the head-scratchingly, yet enjoyably bizarre music video for “Bloody Tongue” from the forthcoming LP.

The storytelling comic book-style video is still-image animated, with panels popping up like on the pages of comic that you’re flipping through, complete with short-phrase dialogue bubbles.

In the clip the befuddled band members rehearse in the studio or stare at the camera lens, thinking strange thoughts, like, “Do they know?” and “Do we just disappear?”

The mystery grows as a frustrated canine also joins in the rumination, exclaiming (in a word bubble, course; not out loud), “Does anything I say… matter anymore?

The weird incidences pile up, with the band on the run from… well, something (possibly department mannequins come to life, or an alien force – anything can happen in a comic book!), and it looks like in the end it’s the alert dog that (maybe?) saves the day!

Vocalist and guitarist Chris Rowell, who also created the video, delves into the details of the song and video, explaining, ““Bloody Tongue” is really just a driving, bare-bones, gut reaction of a song. Maybe a reverse Rorschach test (if we drew it instead of describing it?). I suppose the song happened to come from some very, not-so-pretty parts of the extraordinary last year, but it’s fairly transferable to any times when the proverbial car seems to be driving you.”

“No one plans to bite their own tongue, but it happens. Maybe something different happens when the circumstances are as bizarre and novel as they were last year (sometimes the only certainty is that nothing I can say can change it).”

“The author Haruki Murakami gets name-checked in this one. I really like his strange, brilliant way of dealing with human nature. Have you fallen and you can’t get up? Well crawl on over into this dream space full of magical, talking cats and get right-side up in the upside-down.”

“The video was honestly fun to make and the story came quickly after framing up some dastardly foes (I mean, Dr. Spleen, The Pretender, and General Two-Toes walk into a bar… boom). The hardest part was cutting frames after remembering that there is supposed to be an ending in just over three minutes. My respect for comics and graphic novels went up at least tenfold.”

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