What a whirlwind of events it’s been for Baroness the past three years: the near-fatal bus crash, a lineup adjustment, and then recovering from everything. But even in the face of adversity, somehow they’ve managed to persevere and keep things together. Now they’re back with a new album called Purple.
Staying within the color spectrum, Purple will be the band’s fourth studio album and a follow up to 2012’s Yellow & Green. It was produced by Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, MGMT) at Tarbox Road Studios in Cassadaga, New York, and according to frontman John Baizley, it’s more direct and immediate.
He says,
We wanted to write with our normal focus on artistry, balanced against an increased level of energy and focus. It was important for us to write our new songs with the type of enthusiasm and expressiveness that could act as a counterpoint to the album’s dark themes. As a result, the music came out in an intense, heavy and sonically captivating in a new way, which was important, loathe, as we are to fall into any kind of complacency pitfall or formulaic songwriting routine. Purple is the most fully realized representation of our intention as a band; considering the amount of physical and mental energy spent writing it, we have accomplished something which would have seemed impossible to us a couple of years ago.
Purple will be released on December 18th through the band’s own newly formed label Abraxan Hymns. Here’s the first single off the record — it’s called “Chlorine & Wine.”