CEVIN KEY: Skinny Puppy founder to release fifth solo album via Artoffact Records; new track streaming, featuring Edward KaSpel (The Legendary Pink Dots)
As co-founder of Skinny Puppy, cEvin Key is renowned worldwide for his contributions to industrial music. Through Skinny Puppy, solo work, and numerous other projects, Key has dozens of releases to his name, spanning almost 40 years, and bears a reputation as one of the leaders who has shaped the genre.
A 2019 Pitchfork article on industrial music states:
"Vancouver’s Skinny Puppy are the germinal group of 1980s industrial music, a revolutionary band that pushed the limits of their voices, bodies, and instruments in ways that are still fruitful 40 years later. Their sound came from two gems of 1970s UK underground, new wave synth pop and industrial experimentalism, and offered forth a string of jagged, lo-fi groovy singles that dominated alternative ’80s dance floors. Skinny Puppy also delivered to the masses two iconic musician/performers, cEvin Key and Nivek Ogre, whose powerful, shocking stage shows would define industrial of the decade."
Resonance, to be released February 19th on Artoffact Records, is Key's fifth solo album. Key explains the album's significance amidst his massive body of work:
"It's a statement based on many life experiences. It's probably the closest I've felt to making an 'old school'-style album, as far as just working alone and zeroing in on what means something to me. I guess they say you make music for yourself first. So in some ways this album may be my most personal."
Stream new single "Night Flower" from Resonance, featuring haunting guest vocals by Edward KaSpel of avant-rock heroes The Legendary Pink Dots (and a longtime collaborator of Key's in the band The Tear Garden):
KaSpel is one of a handful of highly notable guests to appear on Resonance, including IAMX, Otto von Schirach, and Tuvan throat singer Soriah. With such voices adding color, the album cruises through cinematic, industrial-techno soundscapes of Key's creation, ranging from the cold and ominous, to the soaring and ecstatic.
The album is inspired in part by the true story of Xwayxway, a largely forgotten Indigenous village located in what is now Stanley Park in Key's hometown of Vancouver.
• All tracks written and produced by cEvin Key
• Recorded at Subconscious Studios, Vancouver, Canada
• Mixed by Greg Reely (tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10), Omar Torres (track 4), cEvin Key (tracks 5, 8, 11, 12)
• Mastered by Greg Reely
Tracklist:
1) Thirteen
2) Night Flower (ft. Edward KaSpel)
3) Anger Is an Acid (ft. IAMX)
4) Orange Dragonfly
5) Thunderbird
6) Dark Trail (ft. IAMX)
7) Tomahawk (ft. Traz Damji)
8) Kullakan (ft. Soriah)
9) Watching You (ft. Edward KaSpel)
10) Sorry, I'm Going to Think Positive
11) Third Eye (ft. Otto von Schirach)
12) Resonance
Musical guests (a.k.a. The Electronic Subconscious Orchestra):
Edward KaSpel - vocals (tracks 2, 9)
IAMX - vocals, electronics (tracks 3, 6)
Traz Damji - electronics (track 7)
Soriah - vocals (track 8)
Otto von Schirach - vocals (track 11)
Dre Robinson - drum machine (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11)
Guilherme Pires - electronics (tracks 1, 5)
Omar Torres - electronics (track 4)
Eric In Quantum - electronics (track 1)
cEvin Key solo discography:
Music for Cats (1998)
The Ghost of Each Room (2001)
The Dragon Experience (2003)
Brap and Forth Vol. 8 (2018)
Resonance (2021)
Skinny Puppy discography:
Remission (1984)
Bites (1985)
Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse (1986)
Cleanse Fold and Manipulate (1987)
VIVIsectVI (1988)
Rabies (1989)
Too Dark Park (1990)
Last Rights (1992)
The Process (1996)
The Greater Wrong of the Right (2004)
Mythmaker (2007)
HanDover (2011)
Weapon (2013)