Brainwasher
Trip Hop | Psychedelic Rock
Brainwasher (Oklahoma City) is the brainchild of Matthew Duckworth Kirksey (vocals, drums, keyboards, sampler) and Tommy McKenzie (guitar, bass, keyboards, sampler), known for their involvement in celebrated acts such as The Flaming Lips, Miley Cyrus, Brothers Griiin, Beachy Head, and Net. The pair offers a meddled strain of trip-hop, touching on industrial, new wave, and shoegaze, in encapsulating stripped-down, psyched-out songs that connect directly with the lizard brain. Their debut full-length album, 39 Lightyears from Heaven, dropped on October 24th, 2025 under Montréal boutique imprint Mothland.
For the better part of 15 years, Matthew and Tommy have been touring the world, sharing the stage with the likes of Tame Impala, Devo, Dinosaur Jr., Modest Mouse, and Echo & the Bunnymen, all the while taking part in prestigious events such as Glastonbury, Osheaga, and Bonnaroo. They also appear on countless records, including Miley Cyrus’ Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, The Flaming Lips’ American Head, Oczy Mlody, and Live At Red Rocks, as well as Stardeath and White Dwarfs’ Wastoid and The Birth, just to name a few. Over the years, Brainwasher is the one thing they kept coming back to. Songs from forthcoming 39 Lightyears from Heaven kept bubbling up and permeating through the cracks of their psyche. The resulting album is their ode to the unique art of Portishead, The Bad Seeds, and David Lynch. It’s the expression of their love for songwriters like Willie Nelson and Neil Young. It’s rooted deep in their red dirt home of Oklahoma. It’s their purest interpretation of a life in music.
Though Brainwasher have 35 years of touring experience between the two of them, they are yet to unveil the project live. That being said, Matthew and Tommy promise a mix of bleak hypnotic soundscapes, ethereal vocals, and driving percussion, that allow the audience to be mutually disorientated and entertained. To support their patented blend of rock and electronica, the pair are to bring along artist Zac Cox, who will be providing live visuals, further tickling that reptilian grey matter of yours. Tour dates are to follow the release of 39 Lightyears from Heaven.
CONTACT:
PHIL@MOTHLAND.COM
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Press
“Brainwasher, a group which includes Matthew Duckworth Kirksey and Tommy McKenzie who are both in The Flaming Lips, have announced album 39 Lightyears from Heaven which will be out October 24 via Mothland. They are defnitely psychedelic as you can hear on [“At Least It Beats an Actor”] but they don’t sound like The Lips. Wayne Coyne was nice enough to direct the video though.”
“In Oklahoma City, two veterans of kaleidoscopic tours and infinite nights behind the kit and strings have conspired to summon something searing. Brainwasher, the invention of Matthew Duckworth Kirksey and Tommy McKenzie (The Flaming Lips), steps into view with “Burning Cars (feat. Spaceface)”, a track that bends the air like heat rising from asphalt. [...] it is a signal fire, an ignition point ahead of the group’s decade long-laboured debut, 39 Lightyears from Heaven, due October 24th.”
“Oklahoma City experimental outfit Brainwasher share fiery single “Burning Cars (feat. Spaceface)”, delivering a textured yet gritty politically charged anthem that critiques political rhetoric, societal self-deception, and our collective tendency to cling to comfortable myths. Framed by vintage indie rock, rip-hop and psych-rock, the track is elevated further by the atmospheric vocal layers courtesy of longtime friends and collaborators Spaceface. Rooted in their signature genre-defiant soundscapes, the track is funky and disorienting yet impactful as it continues to challenge norms.”
“For 10 years, Oklahoma duo Tommy McKenzie and Matt Duckworth Kirksey have existed in a space between memory and feeling, turning fragments of longing into drifting, ethereal music. Their debut album, 39 Lightyears from Heaven, under the name Brainwasher, is more than an album, it’s a decade-long testament to reflection, identity, and the emotions that linger in suspended moments.”
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