Texan post rock mainstays Explosions in the Sky have treated fans to exciting news: following a five year gap, they will be releasing their sixth studio album, In Wilderness, on April 1. The announcement comes along with a brand new single, Disintegration Anxiety.
In Wilderness will be the group’s first formal release since 2011’s Take Care, Take Care, also making it their first non-soundtrack album since then. Tracks from the group’s latest studio outing will be draw influence from shoegaze, folk, “punk damaged dub” and experimental electronica.
While the quartet usually record their own material, the new album has been co-produced alongside longtime collaborator John Congleton. The prolific producer has previously lent the group his talents as a sound engineer on Take Care, Take Care as well as 2007’s All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone and 2003’s The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place. Congleton has also helmed production on a slew experimental albums with St. Vincent, David Byrne and Swans.
If the the seductively unconventional treatment of percussionist Chris Hrasky’s drum patterns is anything to go by, Congleton’s production will be taking the group’s usual experimentation to some interesting new places.
Now available for pre-order, the band have shed some light on what fans can expect from the upcoming release:
“The Wilderness explores the infinite unknown, utilizing several of the band’s own definitions of “space” (outer space, mental space, physical geography of space) as compositional tools. The band uses their gift for dynamics and texture in new and unique ways—rather than intuitively fill those empty spaces, they shine a light into them to illuminate all the colors of the dark.
“It is an album where shoegaze, electronic experimentation, punk damaged dub, noise, and ambient folk somehow coexist without a hint of contrivance—and cohere into some of the most memorable and listenable moments of the band’s expansive body of work.
“The uncanny ability to reconcile the tension between discordant, nightmarish cacophony and laid-back, Laurel Canyon-inspired folk-rock is a cornerstone of this album, and the center of Explosions In The Sky’s remarkable evolution. If The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place was the defining album of Explosions In The Sky’s career, The Wilderness is the band’s [re]defining album.”
The Wilderness track listing:
Wilderness
The Ecstatics
Tangle Formations
Logic Of a Dream
Disintegration Anxiety
Losing the Light
Infinite Orbit
Colors in Space
Landing Cliffs
Since the release of their last LP, Explosions in the Sky have scored soundtracks for 2013 comedy Prince Avalanche and 2014 drama Manglehorn.
Read more: Flashback Friday: Explosions In The Sky – “The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place”