The Aristocrats’ fifth album, Duck, might be conceptual, but bassist Bryan Beller warns fans that it isn’t your archetypal affair. “This is an Aristocrats concept album,” he says with a smile. “It’s not The Wall; it’s about a cartoon duck that gets kicked off an Antarctic island by a malevolent police penguin and then travels the world!”
Out on February 16 via Boing Music, the bassist explains its story was a happy accident: “Marco Minnemann wrote a song called Sitting With A Duck On A Bay, which had a 70s R&B vibe to it, but we also had a more complex song with a parenthetical title of Duck’s End. Then we thought, ‘Are we writing an album with a story here?’”
Having released their first three albums in consistent two-year cycles, Beller is thankful for the four-year turnaround with this release. “We haven’t made a really serious lockdown album that a lot of artists are making: this is our version. We needed to wait for the Aristocratic spirit to come back into the world.”
Initially recorded at Carbonite Sound in Ojai, California, the band embraced home recording to finish the album after their allotted studio time elapsed. “Some of these songs are denser than anything we’ve ever done before. The extra production time was important,” Beller underscores.
It doesn’t feel like it has many detours. It’s the hardest record we’ve done; we have a lot of ‘punching your face’ songs, but it’s also very fun
Minnemann adds: “It was a luxury that allowed us to fine-tune elements that we haven’t had before.” The drummer continues: “We’ve experimented a lot with previous albums, but Duck was really defined from the beginning.
“Although it has many styles, it doesn’t feel like it has many detours. It’s the hardest record we’ve done; we have a lot of ‘punching your face’ songs, but it’s also very fun. The response on the road has been remarkable!”
The band finished 2023 with what they’ve called a “defrost” tour cycle in the US. Beller says that the trio want to tour the world again in 2024 to showcase songs that are “at an elevated level, both in recording and compositional arrangement.”
With cover art by Space Jam animator Lance Myers, Duck is available now in standard and deluxe edition CD formats. The latter includes a USB ‘duck drive’ with behind-the-scenes footage, demos, a branded lanyard and a laminate pass.
