Michael Woodman releases 70s folk horror-inspired new video for Petrichor

Michael Woodman
(Image credit: Ashley Jones)

Thumpermonkey singer and guitarist Michael Woodman has released a new video for Petrichor, which you can watch below.

It's taken from his upcoming solo album Psithurism which will be released through Believer's Roast Records on August 6.

"This song started with a discarded sax arrangement by Josh Perl that didn't quite work in the mix of a different song - it became the seed of a brand new composition and ended up being my favourite song on the release. Most of what I write has a very specific narrative to it, even if that narrative isn't totally obvious from the lyrical content.

"When Drain Hope had created videos for Thumpermonkey in the past, I'd sent him quite detailed notes about how the music should resonate with the images - but this song had grown spontaneously out of fragments of melodic ideas and lyrics taken from other tracks on Psithurism and I thought it might be fun just to let him react to the lyrics to see what he came up with. My notes weren't much more detailed than 'folk horror and 70's film grain', 'rain on burning buildings' and 'steal the colour palette from Panos Cosmatos' film Mandy. I'm really pleased with what he came up with!"  

Named for the ancient greek term for wind in the trees, Psithurism moves away from Woodman’s maximalist sci-fi contributions to Thumpermonkey’s recent Make Me Young Etc, fusing 70s progressive influences with 80s Scott Walker and weird fiction - "sinister narratives featuring backwoods criminality, cryptids hidden in the shin-tangle, recently burned buildings hissing in rain, and the warm, sad ochre of nostalgia"

Psithurism features the drumming, engineering and mixing talents of ex-Cleft’s John Simm, alongside bass by Guapo/Thumpermonkey’s Sam Warren, and saxophone by Knifeworld’s Josh Perl. 

Pre-order Psithurism.

Jerry Ewing

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.