MAMA KIN SPENDER SHARE BEWITCHING NEW SINGLE ‘ARROWS’, ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM ‘PROMISES’ AND ANNOUNCE ALBUM LAUNCH TOUR
A bewitching bullseye balancing soul folk, raw relatability and beguiling melodies, the new single Arrows out today from ARIA-nominated and WAM award-winning duo Mama Kin Spender tantalisingly parts the curtains further into what lies in wait on the pair’s upcoming sophomore album Promises, also announced today and set for release on Friday August 15. With the anticipated LP set to drop ahead of a special run of national album launch shows through September and October, Mama Kin Spender will be hit the road to share their new record with audiences in Pomona, Murwillumbah, Brisbane, Melbourne, Archie’s Creek, Belgrave, Sydney, Milton and Dashville.
Opening with gritty guitars, oozing harmonies and plenty of elegant swagger, Arrows evolves into a powerful yet delicate outing, wearing its heart defiantly on its sleeve as Mama Kin Spender, aka Danielle Caruana and Dingo Spender, detail bad behaviour in relationships. Also drawing inspiration from the likes of Alabama Shakes, Shovels and Rope, Liz Stringer and Pat Benatar for Danielle, as well as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Nina Simone, The Motels and Sam & Dave for Dingo (all of which also permeate on the broader Promises album), Arrows explores, as the band puts it, “the drifting apart through small acts of carelessness, and yet somehow aching to connect. Near misses – every attempt landing awkwardly, landing wrong, lashing out, sly evasive remarks eroding the fabric of love.”
Co-writing Arrows and the entirety of Promises together, the album saw Mama Kin Spender work alongside engineer, mixer and co-producer Dan Carroll, with mastering courtesy of Lacklan Carrick. A concept album that explores love’s optimism, decay, rampage and transformation, Promises is an enchanting journey, accompanied by a primal fusion of garage, soul and folk. A roaring yet tender and vulnerable collection of songs that plunge the depths of emotion and experiences, Promises begins with today’s new single Arrows, before traversing into perky instrumentals and suggestive yet warmly relatable lyricism via Bleeding Out. From here, Mama Kin Spender weave their powerful spell over pounding percussion and raw ruminations (Promises), hazy soundscapes lined with hypnotic melodies (Desert Rain), and musing melancholia that goes down like a shot of smooth whiskey (We Are The Water). Heralding the album’s back end with potent urgency and sinuous harmonies (Dance With Me), Promisesgoes on to tug at the heartstrings with haunting, soulful beauty (A Love That Will Not Die).
“These are songs hewn from real life journeys,” shares Danielle. “Bruises, Shame, Rage, Desire, Contempt, Bad Behaviour. Death by a thousand cuts of carelessness, small unkind moments, projections, stacked up and smothering the innocence of love’s true desire – to change the very shape of us. This is a coming-of-age/coming-of-rage album. This is the doorway of the domestic debris that we accumulate, which ultimately needs to flush out to make way for who we might become as adults; real adults, responsible to ourselves and others, accountable, respectful, liberated from our child wounds and teenage tantrums.”
“The songs are essentially taking any single journal entry from the last 3 years of my love life and adding music to it,” Dingo adds. “The ending and transformation of a marriage, the pain of grief, the yearning for love, the twisted top lip of sarcasm in response to the honesty of accountability, the owning of a great many slippery truths that lay hidden in my guts, the searing, cleansing power of rage, of letting go, of accepting something I just couldn’t stand to accept… It’s basically very complicated and ornate therapy but woven into songwriting, self-expression, the joy of singing, and ultimately, the power of our friendship as we held each other through storms that were set to break us…”
Renowned for their raw, percussive energy and beguiling harmonies, Mama Kin Spender is the collaborative creative project from long-time friends and creative partners Mama Kin (Danielle Caruana) and Dingo Spender. With a stalwart reputation for songwriting that grips at your core, as well as their unforgettable live performances, Mama Kin Spender released their debut full-length album in 2018, with Golden Magnetic scoring an ARIA Award nomination for Best Blues and Roots Album. The pair have previously won Best Folk Act (2013) and Best Blues / Roots Act (2018) at the West Australian Music Industry Awards, and have also performed at the likes of WOMADelaide and Woodford Festival, Perth, Darwin and Vivid Festival, and toured across North America and Ireland and across Australia; with plenty more to come.
With the impending arrival of Promises this August, the stage will also be firmly set for an expansive new Mama Kin Spender chapter that extends beyond the new album and into the theatre. The theatre show; Promises & Wild Beasts, led by multi-award-winning director Craig Ilott, transforms the album Promises into a powerful live theatrical production; a multi-disciplinary show that will bring the album’s themes to life through live music, design, movement and storytelling. Set for an early 2026 premiere through international arts festivals, Promises & Wild Beasts is guaranteed to transcend audiences with its gripping and relatable adaptation of Promises.
“You’re gonna laugh, you’re gonna feel uncomfortable and at the same time, not alone, you’re gonna yell with us, and then most likely cry,” says Dingo of what fans can expect from the upcoming album release shows this September and October. “You’re gonna reflect on your own heart, your own little journey with love and pain and grief and happiness. You’re gonna feel elation, you’re gonna feel brave and also need a hug and a whiskey at the end.”
“We are storytellers,” adds Danielle “we mine the depths of our experiences to build the bridge of connection. Our songs are the vehicles, the embodiment of our shared experiences, joys, grief, confusion, and transformation. We seek to reach towards each other, play our hearts out, howl in harmony.”
But before Mama Kin Spender return to stages later this year, the arrival of Arrows today and the upcoming release of Promises are truly landmark moments from the pair, ultimately serving as a universal vessel for catharsis that pulses with honesty, resonant vulnerability and astonishing craftsmanship.
“It’s a relief to be putting these real and gritty songs into the world,” reveals Danielle. “Cathartic to reach from the depths of personal experiences into distilled works that will reach into other’s lives. I understand myself better because of these songs – they have been doorways through to becoming a better person, to forgiving myself, to making changes, to owning my shit, to realising the impact of promises that I made when I was too young and naive to understand what keeping them would really mean.”
“It really has been a labour of love”, Dingo concludes, “nurturing and growing these songs from strange and challenging seeds in the odd weather of the current music industry and in the dark and, at times, gritty soil of singing about things that feel uncomfortable. This album is a coming of age into the realisation and understanding of mature relationships, mature love, actually listening to love and letting it humble me in its wisdom and, at times, brutal truth. It’s a huge weight off my shoulders, to be honest.”
Arrows is out today.
Promises tour tickets are on sale today.
Promises is due out Friday August 15.
MAMA KIN SPENDER – UPCOMING ALBUM TOUR DATES:
FRI 05 SEP | MAJESTIC THEATRE, POMONA QLD
Tickets available from https://www.trybooking.com/DCRQO
SAT 06 SEP | THE CITADEL, MURWILLUMBAH NSW
Tickets available from https://events.humanitix.com/mama-kin-spender
SUN 07 SEP | LEFTY’S MUSIC HALL, BRISBANE QLD
Tickets available from https://tickets.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/3f3d0a57-6292-43f9-a87f-8f323901e9fe
FRI 12 SEP | BRUNSWICK BALLROOM, MELBOURNE VIC
Tickets available from https://moshtix.com.au/v2/event/mama-kin-spender/181349
SAT 13 SEP | ARCHIE’S CREEK TAVERN, ARCHIE’S CREEK VIC
Tickets available from https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1416568?embed
SUN 14 SEP | SOOKI LOUNGE, BELGRAVE VIC
Tickets available from https://sookilounge.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/8b1839a3-e2d9-4cd4-93f5-bd67b48ae868
FRI 03 OCT | PADDINGTON UNITING CHURCH, SYDNEY NSW
Tickets available from https://tickets.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/0ade135c-14c9-47b4-9f15-b461f0d88f84
SAT 04 OCT | MILTON THEATRE, MILTON NSW
Tickets available from https://www.stickytickets.com.au/uz0rr/mama_kin_spender.aspx
SUN 05 OCT | DASHVILLE SKYLINE, DASHVILLE NSW
Tickets available from https://www.dashville.com.au/dashvilleskyline