Decibel Magazine is currently streaming “Your Pure Breath,” from Chicago-based experimental post-punk/doom metal collective ANATOMY OF HABIT. The track comes by way of the band’s third album, Even If It Takes A Lifetime, set for release on December 10th, 2021. This will be the first of two new albums ready to be unveiled to the public.
ANATOMY OF HABIT – Alex Latus (guitar), Isidro Reyes (metal percussion), Skyler Rowe (drums), Mark Solotroff (vocals), and Sam Wagster (bass + lap steel) — recorded both offerings with Sanford Parker, shortly before the pandemic, with mixing (by Parker) and mastering (by Collin Jordan) carried out during the long shutdown. Along with the band’s core instrumentation, listeners will hear piano, organ, analog synth, and vibraphone woven into the songs.
Elaborates band leader SOLOTROFF of the sprawling fourteen-minute “Your Pure Breath,” “When the current lineup of ANATOMY OF HABIT was gelling in late 2017 and early 2018, ‘Your Pure Breath’ was one of the first songs that we wrote together. I believe that we only played it live a couple of times, and as we were writing more and more songs, and because it proved to be a fairly problematic one for me to perform at the time, we let it sit until we were preparing to go into the studio. While we were recording it, the song unexpectedly took on a life of its own, and it grew in both length and strength. When I consider the lyricsM it seems like one of the most straightforward songs that I’ve written for ANATOMY OF HABIT, although I don’t know if someone encountering it for the first time would necessarily agree with me. While the general mood of the song is firmly planted in sullen ground, the plea for help at the end could be interpreted in a more uplifting manner. In my mind, at least, there’s a direct tie to the potentially optimistic heart of the album title. The atmosphere as the song finishes never fails to give me chills and I hope that some listeners experience the same thing.”
Adds Decibel, “‘Your Pure Breath’ is an immersive, meditative, slow-building storm…”
Stream “Your Pure Breath” at THIS LOCATION.
Thematically, Even If It Takes A Lifetime continues Solotroff’s reflections on love and loss, the creative process, the abstracted and vanishing self, and a sense of absolute obliteration. The potentially nostalgic album title may allude to a sense of hope and may indicate that all is not lost, or at least it may point to an inner drive to keep pushing forward.
Even If It Takes A Lifetime will be released on CD, handsomely packaged in a six-panel digipak designed by Jonathan Canady, a longtime creative associate of the band. A cassette version will also be released, with light blue shells and a four-panel insert. The packaging for all formats will incorporate a series of lush, corporeal cyanotypes by New York-based artist Alexandra Lerman, a close friend of Solotroff. A vinyl edition will follow at a later date.
Find preorders at THIS LOCATION where “A Marginal World” can be streamed.
ANATOMY OF HABIT will celebrate Even If It Takes A Lifetime with a record release show December 8th at The Empty Bottle with additional performances to be announced in the weeks to come.
ANATOMY OF HABIT:
12/08/2021 The Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL * record release show w/ Human Impact, Child Bite [info]
ANATOMY OF HABIT formed in Chicago in October 2008. Although the band has experienced significant changes since forming, this is their longest-standing and most prolific lineup. It’s no wonder that they’ve gelled the way they have. Rowe and Latus have known each other since they were teenagers, growing up in Indianapolis’ heavy music scene and playing together in the band Still. Rowe and Wagster have been creating a strong body of work together in the pastoral instrumental Mute Duo. Reyes and Solotroff are old friends who’ve played together in both BLOODYMINDED and The Fortieth Day, for many years. This deep connective tissue has contributed to consistently effortless writing sessions and solidly fused live performances.
The band incorporates elements of doom metal, post-punk, death-rock, early-industrial, psychedelic, and shoegaze. The band’s last album, Ciphers + Axioms, was released by Relapse Records. Once Even If It Takes A Lifetime completes its full cycle, the band intend to follow up with their next album, Black Openings.
ANATOMY OF HABIT:
Alex Latus – guitar
Isidro Reyes – metal percussion
Skyler Rowe – drums, vibraphone
Mark Solotroff – vocals, analog synth
Sam Wagster – bass, lap steel, piano, keyboard
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