ALBUM INFO:
A Storm of Light return with a new record. Five years after their last studio album (Nation To Flames, Southern Lord), Josh Graham and his companions Chris Common, Dan Hawkins and Domenic Seita have completed their fifth full length album, Anthroscene, to be released via Consouling Sounds (EU and UK), Translation Loss (US), and Daymare (JP) on 5th October.
Josh Graham explains the different mood on this record; "Anthroscene ignores genre and freely combines a lot our our early influences. Christian Death, The Cure, Discharge, Lard, Fugazi, Big Black, Ministry, Pailhead, Melvins, Pink Floyd, Killing Joke, NIN, Tool, etc. Where Nations to Flames was a very a focused sonic assault, this record has more time to breathe, yet still keeps the intensity intact. We allowed the songs to venture into new territory and push our personal boundaries. It’s heavy and intense, but always focuses on interwoven melodies, song structure and dynamic. Bringing Dan Hawkins (old friend and high school bandmate) on second guitar and keyboards, has further expanded the album’s palette."
Lyrically the songs are an honest, brutal and emotional response to what is happening all around us: the disaster of American politics, racism, greed, climate change, climate change denial, nationalism, war, refugees, and how technology is actively changing us as human beings.
Josh continues…”The current events happening across the planet right now are very overwhelming. It’s difficult not to feel very hopeless at times. This record is a big cathartic release….not offering much in the way of fixes, but serving more as a surreal document of our current times.“
Josh Graham explains the different mood on this record; "Anthroscene ignores genre and freely combines a lot our our early influences. Christian Death, The Cure, Discharge, Lard, Fugazi, Big Black, Ministry, Pailhead, Melvins, Pink Floyd, Killing Joke, NIN, Tool, etc. Where Nations to Flames was a very a focused sonic assault, this record has more time to breathe, yet still keeps the intensity intact. We allowed the songs to venture into new territory and push our personal boundaries. It’s heavy and intense, but always focuses on interwoven melodies, song structure and dynamic. Bringing Dan Hawkins (old friend and high school bandmate) on second guitar and keyboards, has further expanded the album’s palette."
Lyrically the songs are an honest, brutal and emotional response to what is happening all around us: the disaster of American politics, racism, greed, climate change, climate change denial, nationalism, war, refugees, and how technology is actively changing us as human beings.
Josh continues…”The current events happening across the planet right now are very overwhelming. It’s difficult not to feel very hopeless at times. This record is a big cathartic release….not offering much in the way of fixes, but serving more as a surreal document of our current times.“
With everyone being spread out across the US, the band worked separately and shared files online. From there Josh would put together modified ideas that bridged the different styles, getting a similar result to rehearsing in a room together: “This writing process is a good example of how technology is changing the way we work and interact with each other. In some ways it is great…this would have been almost impossible even ten years ago. In other ways it feels like human contact is being replaced by screen-contact."
"At times I feel like I am anchored to, and becoming one with the computer. Between music, my design work, composing, music videos, concert visuals, etc etc, it's all in the computer. No escape. In the background is social media and streaming news, etc."
"Louis CK said something like -- we watch all of these atrocities regularly on little streaming videos, and before that comes on, we see some mundane commercial, like it's our penance for getting to watch all of this from the comforts of our home. This article was also an influence to some of the lyrics, along the same lines”.
