True Womanhood‘s new single “Sympathy” opens with 13 seconds of pulsing drones off an 808 machine, as ominous as anything the band has recorded in their several incarnations over the past few years. Singer Thomas Redmond breaks the gloomy intro with the lines “Give you comfort/give you shelter” and “You waited so long/to give me the answer” echoing on repeat. The track lifts off as Redmond and bandmate Noam Elsner—D.C. natives who decamped to Brooklyn earlier this year—pile on more and more synths and computerized effects to the club-ready song. It’s just as space-aged as True Womanhood’s other recent releases, most notably their deft cover of Pictureplane‘s “Dark Rift.” By the three-minute mark, “Sympathy” is a flurry of distorted waves that slash like razors against the melodic undercurrent before floating off into space.
The group included “Sympathy” in its July 29 show at the 9:30 Club, and the version of the track uploaded to Soundcloud yesterday will be followed up next week with a remix by the British post-punk band Clinic.