Anjimile’s “Animal” is plainspoken and absolutely harrowing

Anjimile has shared “Animal,” the third single from his forthcoming album The King due out September 8th on 4AD. Arriving after the record’s title track and its follow-up, “Father,” “Animal” is made all the more harrowing by how plainly it reconstructs the summer of 2020 (“I heard ‘Blue Lives Matter’ from a white liberal / Piece of shit I couldn’t stand at all”).

Like almost all of the songs on The King, “Animal” is built on a sparse foundation of Anjimile’s voice and his acoustic guitar. But it doesn’t take much more than that, combined with his steely gaze affixing the camera in the accompanying Robby Operman-directed music video, to bowl you over with the sheer force of his unflinching, unrepentant rage. Watch the clip below. And scroll further to stream “Animal” on its own, check out The King’s cover art and tracklist, and view Anjimile’s upcoming live dates.

September 9 - Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch
September 28 - Montreal, CA - POP Montreal

November 4 - Reykjavik, IS - Iceland Airwaves
November 7 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Zonzij
November 10 - Paris, FR - Pitchfork Paris
November 11 - London, UK - Pitchfork London

December 1 - Winston-Salem, NC - SECCA
December 2 - Washington, DC - DC9
December 3 - Philadelphia, PA - PhilaMOCA
December 5 - Brooklyn, NY - Public Records
December 7 - Kingtson, NY - Tubby’s
December 8 - Boston, MA - ICA
December 10 - Toronto, ON - The Drake
December 12 - Chicago, IL - Schubas
December 13 - Lexington, KY - The Burl