Sleigh Bells Bring Chaos to a Classic Country Show in New ‘Locust Laced’ Video

Sleigh Bells have returned with a new song, “Locust Laced,” set to appear on their upcoming album, Texis, out September 10th via Mom + Pop.

“Locust Laced” is classic Sleigh Bells with cranked-to-11 guitar riffs and blown-out electronic percussion raging beneath Alexis Krauss’ sugar-rush vocals as she belts, “I feel like dynamite/I feel like dying tonight!”

The track also arrives with a music video, which Sleigh Bells guitarist Derek Miller co-directed with Nina Ljeti. It finds the band performing on an old-timey country program, but the performance goes steadily haywire as Miller slugs moonshine in between riffs and Krauss tries to escape the set before eventually spontaneously combusting.

Texis marks Sleigh Bells’ fifth album and first in five years, following 2016’s Jessica Rabbit (the group also released an EP, Kid Kruschev, in 2017). In a statement, Miller said of the band’s approach to the new album, “We stopped worrying about whether or not we’re in or out of our comfort zone, or if we were being repetitive or formulaic… The thing I’m most attracted to is the juxtaposition of happy and sad, melancholy and hope. A lot of this is about trying to hold on to a shred of optimism through sheer force of will, and I hope this music can give people some joyful energy and confidence.”

Sleigh Bells are set to embark on a North American tour later this year, with the run kicking off October 5th in Raleigh, North Carolina, and wrapping October 28th in Seattle, Washington. A second leg is also scheduled to kick off February 8th, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio, and end February 27th, 2022 in Philadelphia.

Texis Tracklist

1. “SWEET75”
2. “An Acre Lost”
3. “I’m Not Down”
4. “Locust Laced”
5. “Knowing”
6. “Justine Go Genesis”
7. “Tennessee Tips”
8. “Rosary”
9. “Red Flag Flies”
10. “True Seekers”
11. “Hummingbird Bomb”
