Chosen by Monk
My latest choice sees the St Albans alt-noise quartet teaming up with Kenta Koie of Crossfaith to celebrate the release of their fourth album with what could be seen as the second part of a duotych of songs, as frontman Tobi Duncan explained:
‘Filthy/RIGHTEOUS’ exists as a sort of twin brother to [previous single] ‘Be Someone’, the latter being a message to the world regarding our pathetic default to strength, acquisition and violence to resolve problems, the former (‘Filthy/RIGHTEOUS’) being that same message to the person in front of you, the smaller entity you can affect in the moment rather than the leviathan behind a screen that you can’t.
Speaking of the involvement of Kenta Koie, Duncan told me:
[He] is a wonderful human being, that attracts positive attention everywhere he goes. He wanders around various backstages devoid of ego and makes friends with absolutely everyone. We were no exception. He introduced himself at Jera on Air and the rest is history. I slid into his DMs one day and showed him the song asking if he wanted to feature, he thankfully said yes! His contribution is unique and engaging, it’s more than we could have planned for. Thanks so much again Kenta!
Turning his attention to the album, ‘Heaven Can Wait’, as a whole, Duncan said:
Life is pretty chaotic, The world is pretty chaotic. I’m pretty chaotic, and this album is every piece of me and us as a band. ‘Don’t You Feel Amazing?’ was us exploring different sides, influences and inspirations, and finding our true sound. Heaven Can Wait’, which we collectively self-produced, is an extension of that journey of exploration. As a band, we don’t have a singular artistic direction. We’re a cloud of chaos.
I’m not trying to paint a pretty picture that is nice to look at or that’s easily digestible. I’m simply trying to paint an honest picture, and get as much of myself into these songs as possible. It’s direct. It’s unfiltered. It’s raw.
Being ten years and four albums deep into this band feels like a gift. We’re honoured to have not only come this far, but to have done it together with all of our original members and even more of the passion that we started with. Now that this album is out, it’s no longer ours, it belongs to the world now. To everyone that cares enough to listen, thank you so much for your continued support. Our only hope is that we get to scream this in your face in person someday. Heaven can wait, we have ROCKING to do!
- ‘Heaven Can Wait‘ is out now via Hopeless Records.