Mike Hranica, known around the globe as the vocalist and founder of metalcore giants The Devil Wears Prada, announces the October 4th release of Lilac, the debut album from his new project, Town of Lake.
In what might go down as the most surprising solo effort of 2024, Town of Lake is a radical departure from The Devil Wears Prada, revealing a side of Hranica many have not yet seen.
Highly experimental and personal, Lilac sees Hranica indulging in a creative vision whose inspirations lie somewhere amidst the works of Nick Cave, Swans, and William S. Burroughs.
Stream Lilac's first single, "No Gloss," (by way of a visualizer created by Trace Amount auteur Brandon Gallagher), here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rijo8pKpJ54
Pre-order the album, here: https://mikehranica.com/
Pre-order the album, here: https://mikehranica.com/
First single "No Gloss" serves as a perfect introduction to Town of Lake. Tension builds around a minimal beat, a breezy bassline, peals of twangy guitar, and a mounting drone; a minute in, the groove collapses in a lightless cavern of doom, only to return again in the song's final third, aided and abetted by cowbells and congas.
The thread running through this wildly unorthodox song is the voice of Mike Hranica. Over the ominous instrumentation, Hranica recites poetry that explores the darkness in everyday settings and situations. "I’ve always been drawn to the ordinary," he states, "and personally speaking it’s where I find the most appealing notions of drama. I don’t love fantasy, I love everyday." Deep and assured, Hranica delivers his spoken-word baritone with a plain-talk prowess that calls to mind Iggy Pop. Hranica's confidence, built over two decades of fronting one of the biggest metalcore bands on Earth, carries over into this project, although here there are no screams at all.
"No Gloss" – along with the nine other tracks on Lilac – is an expression of absolute musical freedom, motivated by nothing other than the maker's passion. So, how did the guy from The Devil Wears Prada come to make an album like this? Hranica offers a glimpse at the path that led here, name-checking influences ranging from Steve Albini to Vladimir Nabokov. He reminisces: "Hearing Songs About Fucking for the first time. Hearing Filth for the first time. Hearing Goat for the first time. First time reading Nausea. First time reading Lolita. These experiences are monumental in guiding what I create."
Fans who have been watching closely will know that Hranica has dabbled in challenging music in the past – as the singer of the short-lived noise rock trio God Alone, he had a hand in bashing out some Jesus Lizard-inspired gems which, in hindsight, look to be the precursors to Town of Lake's even more challenging musical explorations. Fans who have been watching closely will also know that Hranica is a published author and that there are connections between Town of Lake and some of of his writings. "Two of my most recent works coordinate with the stylings of Town of Lake," he explains. "My books Bullet-Made Tambourine and Three Dots & The Guilt Machine are made up of abstract, observational prose, semi-autobiographical, like the Lilac songs."
While Town of Lake is fully Hranica's project, he enlisted the help of two friends to execute the mission: Andy Nelson (co-owner of Bricktop Recording in Chicago and a member of bands such as Weekend Nachos) and Mason Nagy (The Devil Wears Prada). He describes the process: "For most of Lilac, the lyric would either directly dictate the sounds or the sounds would directly dictate the lyric. Everything was tracked at Bricktop. Certainly not a remote project. The three of us cooked up everything there in Chicago. In terms of the instrumentation I think we each played everything at one point. Andy is certainly the most learned with keyboards, so he cornered most of those sounds. I handled the songs’ writing, their inception, their lyrics, and most electric guitar. Mason cornered 99% of bass. All in all, improvisation plays a huge part in my songs for Town of Lake." The album was mastered by Matthew Barnhart at Chicago Mastering Services.
Having ascended to the top of the metalcore heap and having held the position for 20 years and counting, The Devil Wears Prada continues to thrive. The band has toured the world with the biggest names in metal (Anthrax, Slayer, A Day to Remember, Killswitch Engage, Beartooth, the list goes on), they've seen their albums debut at #1 on Billboard charts, and they have been backed by some of the burliest labels in the scene. They will tour Australia in August 2024, followed by the US in the fall. With such a day job as that, Hranica could play it safe and stay within those bounds, but instead he chooses to venture out and find additional new paths to creative fulfillment. In this context, Town of Lake's Lilac is an extremely inspiring piece of work, as a pure example of a person compelled to make art for art's sake.
"I have no care or concern for Town of Lake’s appeal," says Hranica. "I’ve been playing in The Devil Wears Prada since the band’s inception and I fully recognize that music on a more challenging scale will not likely be received as openly."
Tracklist:
1) Shall I Let You Leave Me + Sin Título
2) Can of Soup
3) No Gloss
4) The Valley
5) Death of a Neighborhood
6) Reading Off My Dreams
7) Tumult / Cheater
8) Where At?
9) How I Feel
10) Drops Gather
Photos by Ariel Kassulke
Cover art by Anthony Barlich and Matt Withers
Tracklist:
1) Shall I Let You Leave Me + Sin Título
2) Can of Soup
3) No Gloss
4) The Valley
5) Death of a Neighborhood
6) Reading Off My Dreams
7) Tumult / Cheater
8) Where At?
9) How I Feel
10) Drops Gather
Photos by Ariel Kassulke
Cover art by Anthony Barlich and Matt Withers
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