Cartoon Darkness

''Cartoon Darkness'' is the third studio album by Australian pub rock and punk band Amyl and the Sniffers. It was released on 25 October 2024 through B2B Records and Virgin Music Group. It is the band's first studio album since 2021's ''Comfort to Me''.

The album was preceded by the singles and music videos for "U Should Not Be Doing That", "Chewing Gum", "Big Dreams" and "Jerkin'".
The music video for "Jerkin'" was released through the band's website because of its graphic full frontal nudity throughout the video. A disclaimer was issued for it to be viewed by adults 18 years and older. A censored version was also released on YouTube.

At the 2024 J Awards, the album was nominated for Australian Album of the Year. The album was nominated for the 2024 Australian Music Prize. The album won Best LP/EP at the 2025 Rolling Stone Australia Awards.

At the AIR Awards of 2025, the album was nominated for Independent Album of the Year and Best Independent Rock Album or EP.

Background

Singer Amy Taylor said of the album,

''Cartoon Darkness'' is about climate crisis, war, A.I., tiptoeing on the eggshells of politics, and people feeling like they're helping by having a voice online when we're all just feeding the data beast of Big Tech, our modern-day god. It's about the fact that our generation is spoon-fed information. We look like adults, but we're children forever cocooned in a shell. We're all passively gulping up distractions that don't even cause pleasure, sensation or joy, they just cause numbness. ''Cartoon Darkness'' is driving headfirst into the unknown, into this looming sketch of the future that feels terrible but doesn't even exist yet. A childlike darkness. I don't want to meet the devil half-way and mourn what we have right now. The future is cartoon, the prescription is dark, but it's novelty. It's just a joke. It's fun.

Critical reception

Year-end lists

Track listing

Personnel

Amyl and the Sniffers
* Amy Taylor – vocals
* Declan Mehrtens – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
* Gus Romer – bass, backing vocals
* Bryce Wilson – drums, backing vocals

Additional contributors
* Nick Launay – production, recording, mixing
* Bernie Grundman – mastering
* Oliver Roman – additional engineering
* Charlie LoPresti – studio assistance
* Jerred Polacci – studio assistance
* Atom Greenspan – additional sound warping
* Harry Cooper – saxophone on "U Should Not Be Doing That"
* Barnaby Clay – harp on "Me and the Girls"
* John Stewart – photography
* Olivia Jaffe – photography assistance
* Thomas Ronnie – artwork

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

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2024 albums
Amyl and the Sniffers albums
Albums produced by Nick Launay
Albums recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders
Virgin Music Group albums