Massive Attack and Tom Waits are joining forces for the first time on “Boots on the Ground,” a brooding, politically charged collaboration out now (April 16) via Play It Again Sam. The track, paired with a vinyl-only B-side from Waits titled “The Fly,” marks the 76-year-old cult figure’s first new recording since his 2011 album Bad As Me.
Massive Attack has also released an accompanying film for “Boots on the Ground” created alongside elusive U.S. visual artist thefinaleye. The high-intensity montage draws from recent real-world unrest, including mass U.S. protests tied to ICE raids, militarized policing and rising authoritarian rhetoric.
“It’s a career honor to collaborate with an artist of the magnitude, originality and integrity of Tom,” Massive Attack said in a statement, before zeroing in on the current climate. “Across the western hemisphere, state authoritarianism and the militarization of police forces are fusing again with neo-fascist politics. Seen within the American emergency, at home and overseas, this track contains pulses of callous impulse and abandoned mind.”
True to form, the Waits-powered “The Fly” is a gravel-throated spoken-word piece featuring additional vocals from his son Casey. “One day many years ago, I accepted an invitation from Massive Attack to collaborate,” Waits reveals.“Way back then, we sent them ‘Boots on the Ground.’ Their long release delay never worried me. Today, as in all of mankind’s yesterdays, guarantees this song will never go out of style.” Never one to miss a chance at a well-placed growl, Waits added, “man’s fiasco folly is a feast for the flies.”
The release will be followed tomorrow by a spoken-word reflection from novelist Omar El Akkad, expanding on the themes of the project and its real-world parallels. “Boots on the Ground” also marks the first Massive Attack release distributed under a Spotify exemption policy, with more music expected to roll out around the band’s upcoming European tour dates and summer festival appearances, which begin May 27 in Helsinki.
Long known for its advocacy for sustainable touring and production, the group is offering a limited 180g “EcoSonic” vinyl pressing made entirely from recycled PET. Profits from the release will benefit both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Immigrant Defense Project.
Waits has actually released an album more recently than Massive Attack, whose last full-length was 2010’s Heligoland.
