Crumb released two singles on Wednesday, titled “BNR” and “Balloon.” The songs, along with last month’s “Trophy,” are the Brooklyn-based band’s first releases since 2019’s Jinx.
“BNR” and “Balloon” continue to mark Crumb’s growth since their already-impressive 2019 debut album. Eerie and enthralling, the siren song of frontwoman Lila Ramani captures attention against the kinks and grooves of Crumb’s brand of psychedelia. While “Balloon” is at first listen a cool, danceable track, its lyrics are a bit more foreboding; “BNR,” on the other hand, leans fully into its more sinister qualities. The music video for “BNR” begins in grayscale, paying subtle homage to some of Alfred Hitchcock’s classics like Psycho and The Birds. The video becomes slowly saturated with color after an indecipherable spooky noise resets the song’s momentum, and closes with a hair-raising shot of Ramani as a string section brings the track to an end.
Ramani said of the two new releases in a statement:
“BNR” is an ode to my favorite colors. I had a weird obsession with those colors in winter 2018-2019 and felt like they would follow me around everywhere I went. “Balloon” tells the story of a girl that dances so fast in the club that her head falls off.
Watch the music video for “BNR” (directed by Joe Mischo) and listen to “Balloon” below. You can stream the tracks here.
