(2019) Psychic Graveyard - Loud as Laughter-The Next World EP
Review:
Loud As Laughter is a thrashing, wild beast of a track – frightening in its intensity (think Arab on Radar meets Throbbing Gristle). Listening to it brings back memories of an episode of Soviet-era cartoon Nu Pogodi – the one where the main character ends up in a rocket and is shaken in a violent simulation of an astronaut’s experience… There’s a reason why it hits so hard – Psychic Graveyard features the noise rock scene’s creme da la creme in its ranks.
Noise Rock pioneers, Eric Paul (Arab On Radar, Chinese Stars, Doomsday Student), Paul Vieira (Chinese Stars, Doomsday Student), and Nathan Joyner (Some Girls, All Leather, Hot Nerds) venture through uncharted territory with their new band, Psychic Graveyard The band’s debut single, “Loud As Laughter ” – set to be released early in 2019 through Skin Graft Records – exemplifies the raw tapestry of sounds that characterize the new endeavor. Nathan Joyner’s grinding synths and “found sound” buries the seed of each song deep into the fertile ground – while Paul Vieira’s manic, fuzzed-out guitars and Eric Paul’s obsessive lyrics shower the proceedings with equal parts sunshine and rain. According to the band, the process of writing the album was unusual for them. Throughout 2018, San Diego-based Joyner would send files filled with the skeletons of songs to Vieira and Paul in Providence, Rhode Island. The two would add their parts, and then the songs would undergo an arduous, back and forth until all of the members agreed on the final version. The distance of the members and the anomalous approach to writing resulted in a diverse, yet coherent album that picks-up and drops-off the listener at dramatically different places. Like nerve endings spliced and sewn back together, the process spawned a whole new auditory system – which serves as the infrastructure for Psychic Graveyard. The album was engineered by Joyner and mixed by Psychic Graveyard in Providence, Rhode Island and San Diego, California. The Next World the new Five Song follow up EP to Psychic Graveyard’s debut album “Loud As Laughter”; finds the band taking new risks and marks a startling leap forward. Founded by noise rock pioneers Eric Paul (Arab On Radar, The Chinese Stars, Doomsday Student), Paul Vieira (The Chinese Stars, Doomsday Student) and Nathan Joyner (Some Girls, All Leather, Hot Nerds), Psychic Graveyard have slipped past the boundaries of genre, interpenetrated the digital and physical realms and pieced together the soundtrack to the new aesthetic. According to the band, the process of writing “Loud As Laughter” involved constant exploration – at points the album focused heavily on guitars and live drums, at others – the songs were constructed primarily with synths, found sounds and synthetic beats; but with the “The Next World” EP all of these disparate elements have coalesced into a cohesive, unmistakable sound.
After a series of remix singles, the band elected to bring in an outside party to enhance the EP’s original tracks. “The Next World” was mixed by Seth Manchester of Machines With Magnets , a studio known for working extensively with The Body, Lightning Bolt, Battles, Fang Island, Daughters and Deer Tick to name a few. A music video of the title track, directed by Eric Livingston (Dead Cross ), will premiere this summer in advance of a West Coast tour.
Tracklist:
The Next World EP
01. The Next World [03:12]
02. 19th Circuit [02:24]
03. Is This the Body? [03:16]
04. We Think There’s a Chemical [02:55]
05. Graveyard Breath [03:10]
Loud as Laughter
01. Loud As Laughter [3:05]
02. These Are My Wires [3:35]
03. The Night [2:36]
04. Cheap Casket [3:33]
05. That’s Not Blood [3:08]
06. Sleeps With Knives [3:27]
07. Dead In Different Places [3:09]
08. Victim Of A Talk Radio Crisis [3:19]
09. I Know That Man [3:06]
Media Report:
Genre: electronic, experimental, post-rock
Source: CD
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits