Out today: SEVEN)SUNS - One of Us Is the Killer

Seven)Suns' classical reinterpretation of The Dillinger Escape Plan's entire 2013 album, One of Us Is the Killer, is out today on Silent Pendulum Records.

Stream the album, here: https://silentpendulumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/one-of-us-is-the-killer

Buy the album, here: https://silentpendulumrecords.com/collections/sevensuns

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/06/sevensuns-x-dillinger-escape-plan.html

"The arrangements, harmonic overtones and timbral qualities of the string quartet bring out the nervous, constantly moving underbelly of Dillinger's style, emphasizing the inherent cleverness of the compositions." 

–The Wire

"There are insane music feats — and then there's a string quartet covering the Dillinger Escape Plan's 'One of Us Is the Killer' in its entirety. NYC's Seven)Suns have done just that, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the mathcore titans' teeth-rattling 2013 opus — a classical-music reinvention that comes approved by Dillinger's own guitarist-songwriter-bandleader Ben Weinman, now of Suicidal Tendencies."

–Revolver

"Seven) Suns is an avant-metal/hardcore string quartet... Their latest release, a note-for-note reimagining of the Dillinger Escape Plan‘s One of Us Is the Killer, is out now on Silent Pendulum Records."

–Talkhouse

"Comprising violinists Earl Maneein and Adda Kridler, violist Fung Chern Hwei and cellist Jennifer DeVore, Seven)Suns is a string quartet that applies classical training to the music of metal and hardcore... Such relentless works."
–The Strad

"Seven)Suns, a NYC-based string quartet, has recorded a note-for-note 10th-anniversary reinterpretation of The Dillinger Escape Plan’s 'One of Us Is the Killer' album. And who said heavy metal was dead? Let alone the string quartet."
–Slipped Disc

"Seven)Suns is marking 10 years of The Dillinger Escape Plan's monumental fifth album 'One of Us Is the Killer' with a string quartet reinterpretation of the record in full… and it's just as intense as the original."

–Metal Injection

"You ever listen to something and instantly feel… unnerved by it? That’s the exact feeling I got when I first heard Seven)Suns‘ string quartet version of The Dillinger Escape Plan‘s 'Prancer'... Dissonant chaos with a touch of class."

–MetalSucks

"There was never a moment [The Dillinger Escape Plan] weren’t pushing the envelope, all the way up to the point they disbanded – if 'OOUITK' wasn’t their most interesting post-apocolyptic aural hellscape before, these brutalist classical reconstructions will surely prompt many to reconsider. Even in this allegedly stripped down format, maximum mathematical punishment is delivered. Seven)Suns’ scholarly approach to the original arrangements reveal a number of rhythmic complexities that were previously obscured..."

–Fecking Bahamas

"Transforming [The Dillinger Escape Plan]’s ultra-complex post-hardcore/math-metal songs into instrumental chamber music pieces works quite well. Maneein’s violin often takes the vocal melody, as Hwei and Kridler tackle the band’s stacked layers of guitar riffs and DeVore handles the low end. The pieces have a lot more going on than your typical rock or metal song — it’s not just a matter of a verse, a chorus, repeat."

–Burning Ambulance

"Wait – violas and violins in metal? Of course... That being said, Seven)Suns is not just about metal, with one of their biggest influences being The Dillinger Escape Plan. The reach into metalcore, with its grindy hardcore punk influences, really works for the quartet. They don’t even need a screeching vocalist to achieve the chaos... Shivers, with awe, somehow toeing the line of deep-seated dread."
–Ghost Cult

Out today: NECKBOLT - (dream dump)

(dream dump), the new album by Neckbolt, is out today on Born Yesterday Records.

Stream the album, here: https://neckbolt.bandcamp.com/album/dream-dump

Buy the album, here: https://bornyesterday.limitedrun.com/products/745787-dream-dump

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/07/neckbolt-dream-dump.html

"Neckbolt have a morbidly psychedelic sound, with apparently much inspiration coming from a place of dreams – and not necessarily just the good ones... It’s a pretty freakish screed – hushed, grating, unpredictable yelps punctuate the pulsing chaos in a way that reminds us of both Oh Sees and Lightning Bolt, but also the sludgy recklessness of Body Void and Chat Pile."
–Fecking Bahamas

“Split between Austin and Oklahoma City, psych-tinged noise-rockers Neckbolt first introduced their sound as a combination of the hissy garage-rock early recordings of Thee Oh Sees and the abrasive clamor of their OKC peers in Chat Pile… Yet the thesis statement for the band has always been entirely singular, with guitarist Benjamin Krause noting that the group is less attracted to noise rock’s masculine edginess and more ‘interested in exploring sounds associated with hypnagogic residue and full spectrums of emotion.’”
–Flood Magazine

"A psychedelic strain of noise-rock, belonging on the freakiest fringes of the genre."
–It's Psychedelic Baby

"Noise rock with quite a hefty splash of psych."

–Louder Than War

"Fierce noisy rock with more than a few psychedelic twists."
–Scene Point Blank

"The southwestern oddballs shove their dirty noise-rock fingers into your psychedelic peanut butter — and then dare you to lick them clean. You will — and you'll love it."

–Tinnitist

"An abrasive but catchy groove, backing a melody fit for an early record by The Flaming Lips, but with a heavier dose of bass and an overall more thunderous intensity.”
–Treble

"Psychedelic garage rock. There is a little bit of prickliness to it, but I like prickliness. I like music that will make me think."

–Vinyl & Vision

Out today: KEN mode - VOID

VOID, the new album by KEN mode, is out today on Artoffact Records.

Stream the album and buy it, here: https://kenmode.bandcamp.com/album/void

"For anyone worried that time might dull the edges on this Canadian force, VOID cuts deceptively sharp. For anyone worried that a back-to-back release threatened to come off as an engorged A-side, B-side glut, VOID fulfills the promise of a band that simply has plenty more to say."

–Angry Metal Guy

"KEN Mode fuse a bruising post-metal/noise rock heft to a deep melancholy and brooding saxophones."

–Consequence

"VOID completes a two-album whole where hope is evaporated and the cries of help ring in the ether unanswered. To say it’s crushing is a violent understatement."

–Everything Is Noise

"Almost exactly a year after NULL attacked your very essence, VOID is here to finish the job. VOID is the sound of KEN Mode completing a powerful 1-2 punch."

–Heavy Music HQ

"Canadian noise nuts KEN mode are set to drop their new album VOID as a follow up to 2022’s NULL, one of my favorite albums of last year. Recorded around the same time, the album shares quite a few similarities with VOID; but it also feels a bit grittier and desolate. Combined with its predecessor, the duo makes for a complete whole."
–Invisible Oranges

"Even when KEN mode let loose, there’s a noticeable sense of melody on VOID. Sure, it’s loud and abrasive—the band haven’t gone soft—but the music has more room to breathe. VOID is KEN mode hitting their experimental stride. There’s strength in restraint and the Canadian group has learned how to hone in on it."
–Lambgoat

"The current kings of heavy noise last graced our ears not even a year ago with NULL... Well, the NULL session was also appropriately the VOID session, because here we are with the other half, and like NULL, it’s different, but just so. That aforementioned, unflappable Brutal Jesus Lizard foundation remains the band’s core, and [Kathryn] Kerr remains a brilliant addition to the band, fitting in so well as an element of both melody and madness as if she’s been in the ranks all along. But where VOID really begins to expand boundaries is through its embrace of melancholy. This is KEN mode at their most melodic, but it’s also KEN mode at their most despondent and depressed."
–Last Rites

"A companion piece to last year’s stunning NULL, this eight-track bruiser isn’t a retread of that album at all. It’s very different sonically and personality wise, and its songs are the result of the sadness and disappointment that resulted from dealing with the height of the pandemic... VOID finishes off an incredible two-album trip that has given us some of the most combustible, memorable songs on their entire run, which is saying something considering the weight of their catalog."
–Meat Mead Metal

"Just a year after NULL, KEN Mode have returned with another intense and noisy record of experimental unease."
–Metal Injection

"VOID was written as a reflection of the shock and other emotions in 2021, when the world was reeling from the weirdest year in most of our memories. On their ninth album, KEN Mode show that they’re not slowing down any time soon."
–MetalSucks

"NULL is meant to represent pain, with VOID being the despondency that follows it. If ever there was a band that could bottle such concepts and distill them into pure sonic form, KEN mode is the one."

–Metal Trenches

 "Feeling on the edge of panic and don’t quite know why? Waking in a cold sweat to feelings of unnamed horror and some terrible images now lurking just outside of your mind’s eye? KEN mode knows you. KEN mode is here for you. KEN mode feels you. And on VOID, KEN mode has reached a peak in its expression of palm-sweating, animalistic terror."
–New Noise

"If NULL seemed like the beginning of something new, then VOID fulfills that promise."
–Nine Circles

"There are few works that capture the existential darkness as accurately as KEN mode’s 2022 record, NULL. Naturally, one record is not enough to cover the entirety of the subject, so VOID comes in as a companion piece... The exhausted demeanor of 'We’re Small Enough' or the tragic and soul-wrenching etude that is 'He Was a Good Man, He Was a Taxpayer' is the stuff that great works of art are made of."
–PopMatters

"Like its predecessor, VOID allows KEN Mode to explore the edges of their style, bringing previously hinted-at elements to the fore... NULL and VOID are the best KEN Mode have ever been at being KEN Mode, and what KEN Mode is continues to expand with every album."

–Stereogum

"Heavy, riffy, ultra aggressive."
–The Needle Drop

"Last year, KEN Mode released the outstanding NULL, a record that ranked among my favorite metal albums of the year and which reaffirmed why the Winnipeg band is one of the strongest bands in heavy music of the past two decades... VOID is cut from a similar cloth as its counterpart, but there are darker shades of nuance amid its eruptions of sonic shrapnel."

–Treble

QUITS - "Abandoned Myths"

QUITS: "mile-high noise-punks" drop "Abandoned Myths" music video; new album "Feeling It" out now on Sleeping Giant Glossolalia

Denver post-hardcore/noise rock crew Quits has dropped the music video for "Abandoned Myths," a track off their new album, Feeling It.

The follow-up to Quits' 2017 self-titled debut, Feeling It is out now via Brooklyn label Sleeping Giant Glossolalia.

Stream the video, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3etsohU8s8E

Buy the album, here: https://sleepinggiantglossolalia.bandcamp.com/album/quits-feeling-it

As displayed on "Abandoned Myths," Quits' sound dances on a knife-edge between anxious twang and epic wallop. Desperate vocals bear a resemblance to the wails of Justin Pearson or Chris Thomson, while dueling guitars, distorted bass, and scrappy drumming push the intensity into the red. The passion is palpable. 

Destroy//Exist describes Quits as "angular noise rock, balancing between nerviness and utter forcefulness." Tinnitist states: "Wielding razor-wire guitars, throat-shred vocals and beatdown rhythms, the mile-high noise-punks unflinchingly reflect the desperate intensity of our dystopian existence." It is a frequency familiar to fans of bands like Drive Like Jehu, Metz, Circus Lupus, and Deaf Club, yet Quits is its own band with its own message.

Guitarist/vocalist Lucius Fairchild says the new album, Feeling It, is about trying to find one's center in the wake of the pandemic, covering such topics as "police misconduct, mass shootings, addiction, isolation." He describes the current state of his hometown of Denver, where runaway gentrification and abject poverty are colliding: "We adapt. It's expensive. It's no longer strange to see eight cranes on one street. Development has not slowed down. The homeless crisis is also booming. Watching people walk through the tent city on their block to enter their $5,000 apartment. The contrast is interesting."

While some lineup changes have occurred in the turbulence of recent years – bassist Neil Keener (Planes Mistaken for Stars, Wovenhand) was replaced by Cyrena Rosati, who was then replaced by Justin Ankenbauer – 2023 finds Quits to be thriving. In the face of tough circumstances, Quits stands as a pillar of Denver's scene, alongside other Mile High artists such as Endless, Nameless and Moon Pussy, and the band has just delivered its greatest work so far, in the form of Feeling It.

Denver, come witness the band live, October 8th at Hi-Dive, with Djunah.

NECKBOLT - "No Magic"

NECKBOLT: psych-noise rockers' "No Magic" video conjures Russian literature via "psychedelic weirdness and occult disturbances"; new album "(dream dump)" coming via Born Yesterday Records (Stuck, Lifeguard)

Texas/Oklahoma psych-noise-rock collective Neckbolt has released the official music video for new single "No Magic."

Stream the video here: https://www.treblezine.com/neckbolt-no-magic-video-trippy-lofi/

Pre-order new album, (dream dump), here: https://bornyesterday.limitedrun.com/products/745787-dream-dump

Treble calls the new song "an abrasive but catchy groove, backing a melody fit for an early record by The Flaming Lips, but with a heavier dose of bass and an overall more thunderous intensity."

Indeed, Neckbolt's sound is a psychedelic strain of noise-rock, belonging on the freakiest fringes of the genre, somewhere between The Flaming Lips, Lightning Bolt, Boredoms, Arab on Radar, Osees, and Chat Pile.

Treble desrcibes the new video as "a lo-fi VHS-style clip of psychedelic weirdness and occult disturbances."

Neckbolt vocalist James Roo states that the video was inspired by "The Invoker of the Beast," a short story by Russian writer Fyodor Sologub. "The story is about a man who sits in his house, feeling secure and not going outside. He is plagued with fevers, house sprites, and a spirit who forces him into reckoning with what could be a past life, or a sort of hidden layer of reality, where he abandoned a quest to kill 'The Beast.' Thematically, I liked the fact that the story is about breaking a spell of normal reality. The spirit of the main character's friend comes to him to awaken him from a secure existence that we can recognize to a degree, and bring him back to the task at hand, suggesting that the nature of his true existence is this sort of mythic and dangerous quest. I like this inversion of dreaming and waking: Magical dreaming is sitting in your room, and waking reality is a terrible and fantastic ordeal from which to hide."

Roo has stated that the entire new album, (dream dump), was inspired by dreams and dreaming. (dream dump) will be released September 22nd on Born Yesterday Records, the Chicago label owned by Greg Obis (Stuck) and Kevin Fairbairn (Deeper).

Tour:
Sep 30 - Austin, TX @ Chess Club
Oct 1 - Dallas, TX @ Double Wide
Oct 2 - Tulsa, OK @ The Whittier
Oct 3 - Kansas City, MO @ Howdy

Oct 4 - Chicago, IL @ Color Club

Oct 5 - St Paul, MN @ White Rock Lounge
Oct 6 - Omaha, NE @ The Sydney
Oct 7 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Resonant Head

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/07/neckbolt-dream-dump.html

Photo by Blake Studdard

ÅRABROT - "Cathedral Light"

ÅRABROT: church-dwelling Norwegian Grammy winners channel Killing Joke and QOTSA on new single "Cathedral Light"

The new Årabrot single, “Cathedral Light,” is now streaming.

The song appears on the band's new album, Of Darkness and Light, out October 13th on Pelagic Records.

Stream the song and pre-order the album, here: https://listen.pelagic-records.com/arabrot

"Cathedral Light" bruises like Killing Joke and cruises like Queens of the Stone Age; frontman Kjetil Nernes’ snarling vocals are backed by soaring hooks, making for another irreverent and triumphant anthem from this singular band.

Produced by Alain Johannes (QOTSA, PJ Harvey), Of Darkness and Light is the Norwegians’ tenth full-length album. Over its 20-year career, Årabrot has evolved from Swans/The Birthday Party-inspired noise rock, toward a rapturous realm of hard rock. Past achievements include: collabs with Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))), albums produced by Steve Albini, and winning a Norwegian Grammy.

The band — consisting of Nernes and wife Karin Park, who live and work together in an old church in rural Sweden — state: “In the thick of the pandemic we were stuck in our church, unable to even visit family. Kjetil felt like writing a rock anthem telling the story of a couple — telling our story — living our life in our church, taking part in this mad world, immersed in the beautiful light cast by our big church windows. In the battlefields of Verdun grew trees that cast a specific light referred to as ‘cathedral light’ by the locals. We hope our church light is as deep and beautiful as the cathedral light of Verdun.”

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/07/arabrot-of-darkness-and-light.html

Photo by Pål Laukli

QUITS - Feeling It

QUITS: Denver crew delivers post-hardcore passion and noise rock wallop on new album "Feeling It"; new track streaming now

Sleeping Giant Glossolalia presents Feeling It, the new album by Denver band Quits.

The follow-up to Quits' 2017 self-titled debut, Feeling It will be released September 15th.

Pre-order the album and stream new track "Abandoned Myths," here: https://sleepinggiantglossolalia.bandcamp.com/album/quits-feeling-it

As displayed on "Abandoned Myths," Quits' sound dances on a knife-edge between anxious twang and epic wallop. Desperate vocals bear a resemblance to the wails of Justin Pearson or Chris Thomson, while dueling guitars, distorted bass, and scrappy drumming push the intensity into the red. The passion is palpable. BrooklynVegan has defined Quits aptly as "a crushing, attitude-filled blend of noise rock and post-hardcore." New Noise Magazine has described it with these words: "Angular, jagged guitars share space with pummeling drums and bulldozing bass, while impassioned, gritty vocals float on top." It is a frequency familiar to fans of bands like The Birthday Party, Drive Like Jehu, Metz, Circus Lupus, and Deaf Club, yet Quits is its own band with its own message.

Guitarist/vocalist Lucius Fairchild says the new album, Feeling It, is about trying to find one's center in the wake of the pandemic, covering such topics as "police misconduct, mass shootings, addiction, isolation." He describes the current state of his hometown of Denver, where runaway gentrification and abject poverty are colliding: "We adapt. It's expensive. It's no longer strange to see eight cranes on one street. Development has not slowed down. The homeless crisis is also booming. Watching people walk through the tent city on their block to enter their $5,000 apartment. The contrast is interesting."

While some lineup changes have occurred in the turbulence of recent years – bassist Neil Keener (Planes Mistaken for Stars, Wovenhand) was replaced by Cyrena Rosati, who was then replaced by Justin Ankenbauer – 2023 finds Quits to be thriving. In the face of tough circumstances, Quits stands as a pillar of Denver's scene, alongside other Mile High artists such as Endless, Nameless and Moon Pussy, and the band has just delivered its greatest work so far, in the form of Feeling It.

Tracklist:

1) Gun Wins Again, Again

2) Abandoned Myths

3) Double Batman

4) Owe the Town

5) Flatline Galaxy

6) Sweet Tooth

7) Dead Birds Swim in Pavement

8) Bucolica

Lineup:

Lucius Fairchild - guitar, vocals

Doug Mioducki - guitar
Cyrena Rosati - bass (album)

Justin Ankenbauer - bass
Darren Kulback - drums

Recorded and mixed by Bart McCrorey
Mastered by John Cota
Album art by Justin Ankenbauer

Next show: 

Oct 8 - Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive (w/ Djunah)

YOUFF + Decibel Magazine

 
“But, hey, in lieu of anything “sunny” you get an absolute earful of pounding noise rock with squalling guitars, a stuttering rhythm section and distortion-laden shouting from five dudes—Manu Mahie (drums), Arjen Verswijvelt (guitar), Victor Goemaere (guitar), Filip Brans (bass), Michiel De Naegel (vocals)—on a sonic mission to annihilate.”
—Decibel Magazine

Watch the video premiere for single “Sunshine,” via Decibel Magazine, here.

Youff is a Belgian noise rock band with members of 30,000 Monkies, Crowd Of Chairs, Maze and Mesher. Known for their energetic live sets and raw, unnerving sound, they keep on attacking the senses, one release at the time. Rooted in the foothills of the infamous H8000 scene, the band started out as a duo in 2014. Drawing inspiration from local exemplars like Rise And Fall or Hessian, as well as weirdo noise related acts such as Lighting Bolt, Arab on Radar, Shit and Shine and Brainbombs. Over the years, they kept shapeshifting, exploring the sonic possibilities of different collaborations and different lineups, as if  approaching band members as ingredients to a filthy, increasingly saturated stew. Slowly adding more and more, evolving from a two to a three piece, then a quartet and eventually – for now? – the five-headed formation that brings you Heydays, the band’s 7th release arriving October 27th.

Heydays will be released on limited edition vinyl on Bagdaddy Records, Rockerill Records and Love Mazout Records on October 27th 2023. Preorder, here.

Youff 2023 Tour Dates:

Nov 1 – Paris, FR @ L’International
Nov 2 – Troyes, FR @ The Message
Nov 3 – Lyon, FR @ Le Farmer

Nov 4 – Marseille, FR @ La Salle Gueule
Nov 6 – Ilirska Bistrica, SL @ MKNZ
Nov 9 – Kreuzlingen, CH @ Horst Klub
Nov 10 – Bern, CH @ Bar Regula
Nov 11 – Turin, IT @ Magazzino Sul Po

Nov 15 – Ghent, BE @ De Koer

Nov 18 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique

SEVEN)SUNS x Revolver

SEVEN)SUNS: classical music disruptors recreate landmark album by metal pioneers The Dillinger Escape Plan; official music video for lead single "Prancer" streaming now

Stream the official music video for NYC string quartet Seven)Suns' cover of The Dillinger Escape Plan's “Prancer,” now via Revolver Magazine: https://www.revolvermag.com/music/see-sevensuns-cover-dillinger-escape-plan-prancer

"Prancer" originally appeared as the opening track on The Dillinger Escape Plan's landmark 2013 album, One of Us Is the Killer. For the the album's tenth anniversary this year, Seven)Suns has recreated the entire masterpiece, rearranging all eleven of its wildly complex tracks for violin, viola, and cello. Seven)Suns' album will be released on Silent Pendulum Records on September 29th.

Revolver reports: “There are insane music feats — and then there's a string quartet covering the Dillinger Escape Plan's ‘One of Us Is the Killer’ in its entirety. NYC's Seven)Suns have done just that, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the mathcore titans' teeth-rattling 2013 opus — a classical-music reinvention that comes approved by Dillinger's own guitarist-songwriter-bandleader Ben Weinman, now of Suicidal Tendencies.”

Pre-order the album, here (LP): https://silentpendulumrecords.com/products/sevensuns-one-of-us-is-the-killer

Pre-order the album, here (digital): https://silentpendulumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/one-of-us-is-the-killer

Seven)Suns founder Earl Maneein – a world-class violinist whose resumé includes performances with Jay-Z and Rihanna, and whom Metallica’s Robert Trujillo has stated to be “a kick ass player who pushes the creative boundaries” – describes his own group’s sound as “dystopian music rooted in the language of avant-metal and hardcore, played by a string quartet.” Based in New York City, the quartet consists of Maneein, Adda Kridler, Fung Chern Hwei, and Jennifer DeVore.

Seven)Suns has broken boundaries in both the metal and classical music worlds. While their core repertoire is original music written by Maneein, the group incorporates songs from metal and punk bands into its set list as well as Western composers such as Arvo Pärt and Hildegard Von Bingen. One of Us Is the Killer is its most ambitious project to date.

Seven)Suns’ collaborations with The Dillinger Escape Plan date back to 2015 when Maneein and his gang grabbed the attention of TDEP’s Ben Weinman with their cover of the band's odd-time mosh anthem, “43% Burnt.” Impressed, Weinman invited Seven)Suns to perform on two songs on TDEP's final album, Dissociation, and he released their debut album, For The Hearts Still Beating, on his label, Party Smasher Inc. Seven)Suns performed live at TDEP's farewell shows in NYC in December 2017.

Other recent collabs include composer Daniel Bernard Roumain and avant-metal act Imperial Triumphant. Seven)Suns has twice been honored with residencies at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and has performed at the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, The TriBeCa New Music Festival, NPR’S Green Space, and the Fairbanks Musical Association.

Photo by John DeVore

LAST MAN BACK - "You Do You"

LAST MAN BACK: Irish alt-rocker Alan O'Keeffe drops dreamy new single "You Do You"

“You Do You” is the second single by Last Man Back, the new project from Alan O’Keeffe.

Stream the song, here: https://bigtakeover.com/news/video-premiere-you-do-you-by-last-man-back

A native of Cork, Ireland, O’Keeffe has been based in the vicinity of NYC since the mid ‘00s. Having lent his talents to a slew of bands – indie darlings Des Roar, among them – O'Keeffe has gone solo now and the results are thrilling. Under the Last Man Back moniker, O'Keeffe makes dreamy, melancholy tunes that hook the ear and punch the gut.

O’Keeffe describes his musical roots: “The Stone Roses’ first album is where everything changed for me. And with that came a tidal wave of melodic, psyched-out tunes that would be with me forever. Ride, Teenage Fanclub, Swervedriver – that’s just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s all in there. And that’s where I want to take Last Man Back, taking that moment in time and adding my two cents’ worth.”

Last Man Back bears traces of those UK greats of the late ’80s and early ’90s, as well as some of the world-weary gems that defined the heyday of the college rock scene, a few years prior – the early works of The Cure and R.E.M., among others. To put Last Man Back in a modern context, the sound lands nicely in the mix with the best of today's melodic post-hardcore outfits who share some of the same influences – High Vis, Militarie Gun, et al.

"You Do You" was produced by Jeff Ottenbacher and mixed by Kal Pipal (Gorillaz, Sam Fender). Stand by for the next moves from this rare talent.

Photo by Guy Eppel