Stagnant Pools Sophomore Album
Geist Streaming At The AV Club
On Tour This Summer with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
|
|
|
|
Stagnant Pools’ sophomore album will be released June 10 on Polyvinyl Records. In anticipation of the release, the album is streaming in full a week before street date at The AV Club who said Geistshould be of interest to fans of Joy Division, Sonic Youth, and The Jesus And Mary Chain.” Earlier, this spring Stereogum premiered “You Whir” from Geist and said the track “sounds something like Swans on an MBV kick.” Geist will be available on CD, LP, digitally and cassette and can be pre-ordered now in the Polyvinyl online store. Stagnant Pools just kicked off a summer tour with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. All upcoming shows are listed below.
Following the release of their debut full-length Temporary Room in the fall of 2012, Stagnant Pools embarked on several high profile tours supporting the likes of David Bazan, Maximo Park, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Japandroids and more.
All that time spent on the road exposed brothers Bryan (guitar/vocals) and Douglass Enas (drums) to a world outside their Indiana-based upbringing and introduced them to a slew of like-minded people. The experience of playing so many shows also gave the sibling duo a fresh perspective on their strengths and weaknesses as a band, feedback the pair took to heart while spending last year working on new material.
In January the siblings traveled two hours from their hometown of Indianapolis to the Champaign, IL-based studio run by Hum guitarist/vocalist Matt Talbott — a short trip that quickly grew hazardous when a blizzard blanketed the region with snow, temperatures dipped further below zero than they had in decades, and roadsides became littered with stranded vehicles. After braving this grueling display of nature to arrive intact, the band hunkered down to finish their sophomore release, Geist. Four days later, they emerged having spent two days recording and two days mixing the record — all completely analog.
The result is ten songs that refine and expand on a shoegaze-meets-noise pop sound that has previously drawn comparisons to
Joy Divison,
Sonic Youth, and
The Jesus and Mary Chain. Lead single
“Intentions” continues in this tradition of pushing droning guitars barely over the edge into melody and amping up the fuzz and distortion without becoming submerged in it.
Geist is anchored by “Filed Down,” a track that showcases increased vocal variety and spastic drumming, and highlighted by “Dots and Lines,” where a sunny guitar line shines brightly on a soaring chorus and persistent drum beat.
Recording the album live to tape will surely prove to have been good practice, because now that the album’s complete all that’s left to do is pile back in the van and hit the road again. “There’s something affirming about touring a lot,” says Douglass. “It’s kind of a concrete way of knowing that you are in forward motion.”
