BURIAL WAVES: Treble Premieres “Cinema Shame” From Baltimore/DC-Based Post-Rock Quintet; Debut EP, Holy Ground, Nears November Release Through Dark Operative

October 21, 2021 Infrared Magazine Music News, News, Press Releases Comments Off

photos by Seannie Camera

Treble is currently hosting an exclusive stream of “Cinema Shame,” the new single from Baltimore, Maryland/Washington, DC-based alt/post-rock quintet BURIAL WAVES. The track precedes the band’s impending debut EP, Holy Ground, nearing November release through Dark Operative.

Holy Ground was recorded and engineered by J Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines) and Dennis Manuel, mixed by Paul Malinowski (Shiner), mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering, and completed with cover art by Joby Ford (The Bronx).

BURIAL WAVES’ vocalist Kyle Durfey offers with the release of the “Cinema Shame” single, “The first line of the song was one of those things where it had just been floating around for me to grab, it just landed pretty effortlessly onto Ross’s riff and that’s always a starter for me, and I kind of let that navigate through and dictate the rest of the mood/song. Overall, lyrically, I was kind of playing with the idea of a relationship as a film for everyone to see. It’s just a story about having nowhere to hide your flaws behind.”

Writes Treble, “Today, they’ve shared new track ‘Cinema Shame,’ a brawny post-hardcore track that merges the atmospheric density of Hum with the punk immediacy of Fugazi.”

Stream BURIAL WAVES’ “Cinema Shame” first only through Treble now at THIS LOCATION.

Holy Ground will see digital release through Dark Operative on November 12th. Find preorders where lead single “Light Heads” is streaming HERE

BURIAL WAVES has also booked several live performances, including a slot supporting Quicksand on October 27th, and a set supporting Fucked Up on January 24th, both in Washington, DC. Watch for additional videos and more to post over the days ahead.

BURIAL WAVES Live:
10/27/2021 The Black Cat – Washington, DC w/ Quicksand, Narrow Head [tickets]
1/24/2022 Union Stage – Washington, DC w/ Fucked Up, Empath [tickets]

The DC/Baltimore area has a history of musicians reevaluating the violent nature of hardcore and replacing its primal aggression with a broader sonic range and a more compassionate consciousness. This didn’t diminish the urgency or physicality of the music… if anything, the bands opting out of the brutish impulses of their youth were even more powerful in their newfound delivery. Many of these bands are synonymous with the Salad Days-era’s blend of heft and heart, but outsiders are often surprised to learn that the scene isn’t exactly a mecca for the underground’s lifers. DC in particular is extremely transient—a metropolitan area with a high turnover as young people move in and out of town with every new election cycle. But just as the city’s halcyon days of the ‘80s punk scene saw a variety of projects sprout up from the same pool of musicians, there is a current contingent of permanent residents who continue that lineage of interconnection in their mission to create exhilarating, introspective, and forward-thinking rock.

In that sense, BURIAL WAVES is a quintessential DC/Baltimore band. With the dissolution of their expansive post-rock outfit Black Clouds, guitarist Ross Hurt and drummer Jimmy Rhodes immediately reached out to their old friend Kyle Durfey of post-hardcore luminaries Pianos Become The Teeth about working on a new project. Hurt’s former bandmate Kevin Hilliard from prog-punk trio Caverns was brought on board to cover bass duties and Matthew Dowling of math rock ensemble The EFFECTS joined in on second guitar. Collectively, the band is its own sonic entity, but you can certainly hear not only the members’ individual pedigrees, but the history of their hometown in their collective output.