Muzz – “Broken Tambourine”

Muzz – “Broken Tambourine”

Earlier this month, we were introduced to a new indie supergroup called Muzz when a song called “Bad Feeling” quietly appeared online. Muzz is a trio made up of Interpol’s Paul Banks, Matt Barrick (the former Walkmen drummer who also plays in Fleet Foxes’ touring band), and Josh Kaufman, the multi-instrumentalist who’s played with everyone from the National to Hiss Golden Messenger to his current project Bonny Light Horseman. The members all go way back — Banks and Barrick have known each other since they were teens, and also played together with Banks’ RZA collab Banks & Steelz — and they finally got together and formed a band themselves.

With “Bad Feeling” being billed as something of a soft opening, today we’re getting the real introduction to Muzz by way of a new single called “Broken Tambourine.” It’s also their first single to officially come out via Matador. “Bad Feeling” was already a promising preview of this new band, and “Broken Tambourine” is probably even better.

“Broken Tambourine” begins with a somber piano introduction courtesy of Kaufman, before building into a brooding thing of hushed, meditative grandeur. Banks intones over piano and clarinet, while Barrick’s percussion rumbles in the distance. You can certainly hear a bit of each of their projects colliding here; in a way, it kind of feels like Banks’ response to a sound we might normally associate with the National. Check it out below.

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