Tapeworms – Grand Voyage

Today, Tokyo-via-Lille shoegaze art-pop band Tapeworms return to announce their long-awaited second album Grand Voyage, out April 11 via New York City’s Music Website and Japan’s P-Vine.

Inspired by the bright, driving energy of French touch music, the sugary bit-pop of the early 2000s, and glitch experiments by artists like Tujiko Noriko and Oli XL, Grand Voyage finds the project expanding their sound into bold, unexplored territories. Alongside the announcement Tapeworms share lead single and video “Playground,” serving as a twisted pop testament to blending their many influences into a singular, serotonin-inducing arrival point.

“Playground” is built with an over-the-top sonic palette of MIDI drums, bit-crushed synths, SEGA-inspired SFX, laying the groundwork for a melancholic yet vibrant afternoon picnic in the park with a never-fading sun. Its themes echo those of previously released standalone tracks—”IRL” and “Puzzle” (2023), “Superstar” (2024)—celebrating escapism and the will of overcoming inner fears. The song reminds us that playgrounds are formative spaces where we learn to confront risk and construct our individual fantasies and dreams, free from the apprehensions of adulthood. As we grow older, these spaces of play increasingly disappear, but the band encourage us to remember, cherish, and rediscover them.

After freshly arriving in Tokyo, band members Margot Magnière and Théo Poyer wandered around their neighborhoods with a mini-DV camera, chasing down every playground they could find to pay homage through the accompanying music video. The result is a heavily cut, dreamlike collage evoking the nostalgic haze of old family holiday videos—the kind that capture younger versions of ourselves and resurface distant childlike mindsets.

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