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(photo credit Samantha Muljat) |
Earth’s career, like its music, has always been a slow, deliberate progression. Each record slightly removed from the last, a constant refinement of a singular vision. Dylan Carlson has remained focused throughout on coaxing moments of strange beauty and reflection from “the riff”. This elemental foundation of rock is refracted, in their earliest recordings, through the prism of sheer volume & feedbacking drone or, in the twin Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light set from 2011 & 2012, via a sparse unraveling take on folk.
With Primitive and Deadly, Earth’s tenth studio collection, Carlson & long term foil, drummer Adrienne Davies, manage to pull off the trick of completing an Ouroborean creative cycle, 25 years in the making, whilst exploring new directions in Earth’s music. For the first time in their diverse second act, they allow themselves to be a ROCK band, freed of adornment and embellishment. As much as Carlson’s guitar has always been the focal point of Earth’s music, it’s been surrounded by consistently diverse instrumentation. Here the dialog between Carlson and Davies drumming remains pivotal, underpinned by the sympathetic bass of Bill Herzog (Sunn 0))), Joel RL Phelps, Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter) and thickened by additional layers of guitar from Brett Netson (Built To Spill, Caustic Resin) & Jodie Cox (Narrows). Perhaps the largest left turn on Primitive and Deadly, though, is prominence of guest vocalists Mark Lanegan and Rabia Shaheen Qazi (Rose Windows) who transform the traditionally free ranging meditations of Earth into something approaching traditional pop structures.
On "Rooks Across the Gates", a song stylistically the closest to the folk inspired modality of Angels of Darkness, Carlson stretches out into some of his most lyrical playing to date, creating an almost symbiotic relationship between his performance and the vocals of old friend Mark Lanegan. "From the Zodiacal Light", meanwhile, takes the late 60’s San Franciscan / freaked out jazz-rock transcendence of The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull and quickly re-appropriates that sound into a musky torch song for the witching hour.
This contradictive tension between a band pushing themselves ever forward whilst surveying their history is reflected in the albums twin recording locales. The foundation of the record was laid in the mystic desert high lands of Joshua Tree, California where Earth recorded hour after hour of meditations on each tracks central theme at Rancho de la Luna. Upon returning to Seattle these were edited, arranged and expanded upon at Avast with the help of long-term collaborator Randall Dunn (who was previously at the helm for the Hex, The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull and Hibernaculum sessions).
Thick, dense and overdriven, melodically rich & enveloping, Primitive and Deadly is Earth reaffirming their position as a singular point in the history of rock.
Earth shall embark on tour in August in support of Primitive And Deadly here are the dates:
TOUR DATES:
July 31st - Katowice, Pl - Off Festival
August 1st - Leipzig, DE - UT Connewitz
August 2nd - Berlin, DE - Lido
August 4th - Sibenik, HR - Super Uho Festival
August 5th - Vienna, AT - Arena
August 7th - Wiesbaden, DE - Schlacthof
August 8th - Zurich, CH - Bogen F
August 9th - Paris, FR - Point Ephemere
August 10th - Antwerp, BE - Zuiderpershuis
August 11th - Utrecht, NL - Tivoli
August 13th - Dublin, IE - Whelans
August 14th - Glasgow, UK - CCA
August 15th - Manchester, UK - Gorilla
August 16th - London, UK - Jabberwocky Festival
SELECTED EARTH DISCOGRAPHY:
Extra Capsular Extraction (Sub Pop) 1991*
Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version (Sub Pop) 1993
Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions (Sub Pop) 1995
Pentastar: In the Style of Demons (Sub Pop) 1996
Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method (Southern Lord) 2005
Hibernaculum (Southern Lord) 2007
The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull (Southern Lord) 2008
Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I (Southern Lord) 2011
Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II (Southern Lord) 2012
Primitive and Deadly (Southern Lord) 2014
*re-issued as A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra Capsular Extraction (Southern Lord) 2010
Prior to the album's release, on 24th June Southern Lord shall be reissuing Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method and The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull on LP. You can order from this link: http://www.southernlord.com/store/search/name:/artist_id:30/format_id:
Don't forget you can listen to the opening track from Dylan Carlson's solo soundtrack, Gold which will see independent digital and LP release on June 16th, 2014 — the deluxe vinyl limited to 1000 copies — while Daymare Records out of Japan will handle the CD pressing worldwide. Here is the link: https://soundcloud.com/drcarlson-albion/drcarlsonalbion-gold-i
