Mandy, Indiana – Sicko! ft. billy woods
Manchester experimental outfit Mandy, Indiana drop “Sicko! (feat. billy woods)”, the final preview of their second album URGH, out last February 7 via Sacred Bones. Built on a stark, forward-driving techno framework, the track pairs the band’s eviscerating sound with billy woods’ characteristic vocals.
The collaboration brings together two distinct approaches. “We wanted to create something with an artist we love, who’s been inspiring to us”, the band says. “woods is such a unique voice in hip hop, his words are so expressive and this track definitely adds a different dimension to the record”. woods—one half of Armand Hammer and arguably one of the greatest rappers working today—delivers a menacing, spitfire commentary on societal ills as by products of big pharma and corporate healthcare greed.
The accompanying video is a multi-director collaboration where seven filmmakers each created a distinct 30-second visual segment, released as an interactive carousel and assembled into a full-length visual. The band elaborates: “Social media has changed the way we consume art and music, often meaning that we rarely see a full music video in the way it was intended to be experienced. For ‘Sicko!’ we wanted to try something different, leaning into the way people consume art on social platforms. We asked creators to make 30 second films based around ‘sickness’ as a theme, drawing inspiration from the track. It was an experiment to see what a music video might be like if we present distinct, often conflicting, visual styles side-by-side”.
URGH finds the band—vocalist Valentine Caulfield, guitarist and producer Scott Fair, synth player Simon Catling, and drummer Alex Macdougall—expanding their far-reaching sound with each member actively taking part in the songwriting process. Co-produced and co-mixed by Fair and Daniel Fox of Gilla Band, much of the album was written during an intense residency at a studio house in the outskirts of Leeds and recorded across Berlin and Greater Manchester.
The process was shaped by adversity, with both Caulfield and Macdougall undergoing multiple rounds of surgeries during the writing and recording. The harrowing experience bleeds into the surreality of Caulfield’s writing—most of which is in her native French—as she grapples with sexual assault, systemic indifference, and the omnipresence of pain.
Mandy, Indiana tour Europe in March and April, including shows in London, Paris, and Berlin.
Tour Dates:
UK:
- March 25 – London – Heaven
- March 27 – Leeds – Brudenell Social Club
- March 28 – Glasgow – Room 2
- March 29 – Liverpool – Rough Trade Liverpool
Europe:
- April 8 – Dunkirk, FR – Les 4 Ecluses
- April 9 – Paris, FR – Petit Bain
- April 12 – Cologne, DE – Bumann & Sohn
- April 14 – Copenhagen, DK – Huset
- April 15 – Berlin, DE – Urban Spree
- April 16 – Hamburg, DE – MS Stubnitz
- April 17 – Tilburg, NL – Roadburn
- April 18 – Rotterdam, NL – Motel Mozaique
