As we had previously reported, Sunn O))) will release a second album this year, entitled «Pyroclasts» and which recording took place during the same sessions that yielded the brilliant «Life Metal». As stated in its press release, «Pyroclasts» “is the result of a daily practice which was regularly performed each morning, or evening during the two week Life Metal sessions at Electrical Audio during July 2018.” The five musicians involved in those daily practices were Tim Midyett, T.O.S., Hildur Guðnadóttir, Stephen O’Malley, and Greg Anderson. When all five were in the studio at the time, they would “gather and work through a 12 minute improvised modal drone at the start and or end of the day’s work. The piece performed was timed with a stopwatch and tracked to two inch tape, it was an exercise and a chance to dig into a deep opening or closing of the days session in a deep musical way with all of the participants. To connect/reconnect, liberate the creative mind a bit and greet each other and the space through the practice of sound immersion.” Below, catch a glimpse of the results of those meditative sessions by way of a trailer of the album.

If you happened to catch the band during their European tour for «Life Metal» and think this all sounds precisely like the encores performed then, well, it is because that is what those encores were – a transposition of the «Pyroclasts» concept to the stage. The connection between the two releases has been further elaborated upon in the latter’s press release, as reproduced below.

The music on Pyroclasts is inextricably woven to Life Metal. It exists on the very same tape reels, was explicitly recorded by Steve Albini. The brightness and vividity of that glorious session glares through these four tracks, the precision and radiance, prismatic lustrousness of the saturation, the elemental sculptural shapes, the abstract renderings. It is a sister, or perhaps a shadow album. Or perhaps the now apparent miasma or aether. But it also exists in a form of a pause, a time space which exist in between and around the compositional structures of Sunn O)))’s titanic works.

 

For the listener or recipient/participant there are deep rewards within the patience of pulling down the walls and letting the music feel, and feel the music. To be immersed will reveal great detail and color, clarify image, encourage a depth of focus and stillness which may lead to a quite profound experience. Sitting inside the space of time. A deep form of elementalism, even atomism, and connection with presence moment, time and reality.

 

Sunn O))) would invite our audience to consider these points of perception when experiencing and listening to Pyroclasts. Sunn O))) would also invite and encourage our audience to use Pyroclasts as a lens to review and reexperience the complexity of the Life Metal album, and even to interrupt its sequence with Pyroclasts. This elaboration can bring the astute listener both abyssal, hallowed rewards.

«Pyroclasts» is set for release on October 25 through Southern Lord. It was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio on July 2018 and mastered mastered by Matt Colton through all analogue AAA process at Metropolis on July 2019.

You can follow Sunn O))) on Bandcamp, Facebook, and Instagram, and Southern Lord on Bandcamp, Facebook (European version), Instagram, and Twitter (European version). Below, further recall their 2019 masterpiece, «Life Metal».